Daughter of Gehenna
by EmmyTheTurtle
Summary: Tempus is a Princess of Gehenna who, unlike her demon cousins, was born as daughter to Satan. Like her father, Tempus has mastered the art of controlling Satan's Flame and feels no emotion, not even regret. When she is given the task to study her half-brother Rin's power over his flame, Tempus begins to learn that human emotion is not as weakening as she originally thought...
1. Prologue

_So, hi there... this is my very first Fan Fiction and I'd like to hear everyone's opinion, but please, no unwanted comments like "Oh god, this sucks so bad" (constructive criticism is welcome as well :)). So, anyway, please enjoy the Prologue and I will post the first chapter whenever I get it done! Have a nice day~!_

_~ EmmyTheTurtle_

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**The Devil's Daughter**

**~ Prologue ~**

- 16 Years Ago -

"_Master, she has arrived._"

"The child?" he hissed quietly, glancing up to face the slithering serpent demon. The King of Gehenna smiled, revealing his razor-sharp fangs hidden beneath his handsome face. The form he assumed was that of a white-haired man with fire-blue eyes and pale, snowy-like skin. He stood and strode down to the demon, his smile growing slightly. "Take me to her immediately."

The demon slithered away and led the King through the narrow ink-black halls of the palace, slithering into a small room which held a small child releasing spurts of blue flame when she cried out. She opened her eyes to stare up at the King of Gehenna, big blue eyes staring intently into his eyes. A gaze so intense and forceful that he was forced to look away and inhale a breath he had been holding. "I want you to summon Amaimon immediately. Tell him he has a little sister to take care of while I take care of issues that need tending to in Assiah. Go, now."

The demon nodded quickly and was gone in a flash. The King of Gehenna picked up the small child and glanced over at the dead woman sizzling in the corner of the room. It smelt horrible. "It seems you have a sharp temper, little flame," he whispered and grinned. "Perfect."

The small baby reached out to pull on his hair and he gasped sharply at the strength she possessed. Gently prying her fingers from his hair and playing with them, he wrapped the baby in a black blanket and rocked her back and forth, humming softly. Checking to make sure no one was in ear's reach, he began to sing to her softly, calming the blue flames which flickered over the corpse's body and room. They died out and simmered away, leaving only the blue candlelight shining over the baby's face. Placing the whimpering child in her crib, the King of Gehenna turned to see the Earth King Amaimon staring at him.

"Good evening, Father," Amaimon said, blinking slowly. "Why did you summon me here?"

"I have an important task for you, Amaimon."

"What is it?"

"This child is extremely important. I want you to take care of her if I am not here to do so, do you understand."

"Of course… but…"

"What is it?"

"Are you telling me to babysit an ignorant child?"

"Precisely. Is there a problem with that?"

Amaimon lifted his clawed hands in submission. "Of course not. I'm just making an observation, Father."

He sighed. "All of my children are so damn stubborn it irritates me to tears. Now. Take care of the child until I return."

"Has she been named as yet?"

"Time is short; you come up with a name."

Then he was gone. Amaimon looked down at the sleeping baby and frowned. "Time is short? Huh… Time… Tempus! Tempus, you're going to be short, okay?"

The baby made a strange gurgling sound and Amaimon titled his head, trying to make sense of the sound. "Tempus, your language doesn't make any sense. Can you speak clearer?" When Tempus made more gurgling noises, a frown appeared on Amaimon's face and he _tsk_ed before scooping Tempus up and throwing her gently. Summoning a simple vine to catch her, Tempus giggled and waved her arms around, trying to grasp ahold of the small leaves.

"You're a strange creature, Tempus," Amaimon muttered and put her back down. Quickly exhausted by her small adventure, Tempus closed her eyes and fell to sleep immediately. Curious, Amaimon leant over the crib and watched her sleep. "A very strange creature, indeed…"

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_So there is it, the very short prologue! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed yourself. Bye~!_

_~ EmmyTheTurtle_


	2. Blue Flicker & A Human Quarter

_So this is the first chapter of my first FanFiction... again, constructive criticism is welcome and positive reviews are as well! Useless comments are unwelcome, etc. etc._

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**Chapter One  
~ Blue Flicker and A Human Quarter ~**

Tempus. No last name, no middle name, no title. Just Tempus. Practically raised by her half-brother Amaimon, she trusted him with everything. Well, almost everything. She sometimes found it hard to talk about her 'girly issues' as Amaimon called it. Fortunately for Tempus, she taught herself how to live normally. But growing up with a bunch of demon servants as a kid 'does stuff to your head'. Tempus had never understood how to function in a human society… though humans, particularly exorcists, had never been the friendliest to a Princess of Gehenna.

A master of controlling Satan's blue flame, Tempus was feared throughout Gehenna and Assiah. His fiery blood boiled through her flames, lighting her fingertips alight with warmth and pride. Tempus had spent many hours on her childhood perfecting the art of lighting only the candles in the room; her power of the flames had once been overpowering to her and had controlled most of her thoughts and movement…

"_Tempus, are you listening…?_" her brother's voice had said to her once.

"_What? I'm concentrating!_"

"_What're you doing?_"

"_Trying to get this thingy lit up properly!_" Tempus had said in a frustrated manner, clenching her little fists tightly, trying to light the small simple candle sitting in front of her. When the small candle lit up lightly, Tempus knew she had succeeded in mastering the flame. At eight years old, Tempus had been so very happy to have mastered such a fire.

"_I did it! I did the thing!_"

"_The thing?_" Amaimon had asked, inclining his head slightly. "_What thing?_"

"_Look, I can do the thing with the blue fire!_"

_"… So?_"

Tempus smiled at the memory; Amaimon was so clueless and stupid sometimes.

As Tempus stood on the highest point of the palace she had grown up in and gazed over the world of Gehenna, the darkened part of the mirror which made up the worlds of Assiah and Gehenna. Assiah, the light in which the humans and spirits lived in a strange harmony. On the other side of the mirror, there was her world: Gehenna. The absolute darkness which engulfed anything. Demons and other evil beings such as herself lived here, devouring any light that dared to enter.

_We are the darkness you cannot see. We live in the deepest, darkest corners of your heart, waiting for the perfect moment. Waiting for you to crack under everything so we can take ahold of your physical form and control you from the inside out. That is what my kind lives for._

Tempus frowned at her thought and discarded it quickly. She could see everything from this point. She could almost touch the dark purple and red clouds with her fingertips, though to do that would to breach the barrier between the two worlds. Demons could enter Assiah by reaching out to the solid objects in that world and cling to them, eventually possessing a living organism such as plants, animals or if the demon is strong enough: humans.

Tempus sighed and stepped off of the pointed tip of the palace, falling gracefully to the earth. She landed with a delicate tap on the earth, unlike the demons of this place who found entertainment in destroying everything they touched. Tempus walked into the palace and ignored the squalor of demons that followed her path, slamming the door shut behind her and striding to her mirror and staring long and hard into her reflection.

White hair, pale skin the colour of freshly-fallen snow and eyes the colour of the fire she controlled. Everything around Tempus was dark and foreboding, but she was white like the angels. Why? Tempus' heart was dark and furious, just like everything else in this hateful world. Tempus wore what everyone was: black. A simple black dress while her long silver-white hair fell to her lower back. She glanced to the window to see Amaimon squatting on the balcony edge. "How is my little sister fairing on this bland day?"

"You always know what to say to make you little sister feel better," Tempus chuckled. "this is unexpected, to say the least… what brings you to the conclusion you can practically break into my room whenever you please?"

"If my message is important, then yes."

"Important how?" Tempus asked cautiously. Amaimon normally only swung by (literally) only to tell her about the Okumura twins. Tempus knew that only one of them carried the flame in his veins, and that she was stronger than him. It made her giggle to think that a sixteen-year-old boy was weaker than her.

"Our brother Mephisto and Father want us to go to Assiah…"

"And?"

"They want you to join True Cross Academy."

Tempus paused and slipped into her dress, flicking her hair out and sitting on her bed. "That's it? There's… there's more, isn't there?"

Amaimon nodded, "But I don't know; Big Bro didn't let me in on much. Hey, you look troubled… is something wrong?"

"Amaimon, I don't feel emotion. How am I supposed to fit in with a group of humans?" Slight panic anxiety rose up in Tempus' stomach and she began to bite her long nails, a habit she had learned from Amaimon during her childhood. "I mean, I'm not a normal demon either… my mother was human after all…"

"Most of your body and soul is demon, Tempus," Amaimon whispered, crouching on her bed and smiling gently, something he rarely ever did. "You're better than them, so don't get all nervous."

"I don't feel; how do I become nervous in the first place?" she asked and they laughed. Amaimon handed her a photo of the twins; Rin and Yukio Okumura. Both had fairly dark hair, though Rin's appeared to be a dark blue in shading. Their eyes were blue, though not the same colour as the flame. Yukio was tall and Rin was short, though either way, Tempus was still much shorter than the two of them. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"They look… _human_," the word disdain dripped from her mouth. "It almost sickens me."

He nodded. "I've fought him twice last year. When Rin's flame takes over him, he looks sort of like a demon, but not as bad as you do."

"Because I _choose _to change my form… but I haven't done that since last summer, that Naberius demon needed to learn its place."

Amaimon made a half-smile and handed her a small round candy. "What's this?"

"It's called a lollipop. Try it; you'll like it."

She stuck the lollipop into her mouth and smiled. "Strawberry… my favourite."

"Told you. Come on; we should get going. Big bro's might get angry if we don't show up."

Tempus nodded and stood. "I… I don't need to possess a human, do I?"

"No; your human self restricts you from doing so. When you choose to obliterate it, you can possess people."

The thought made Tempus' heart flip with excitement. To possess living objects and control their thoughts, movements… to read their emotion, their memories and live their life for a few seconds, a few days, a few hours… as long as she pleased… Tempus longed for that power. At this moment in time, Tempus was still too weak to erase the human inside of her. It slept, often whispering things to her and sharing what it felt.

Squishing a human existence was not nearly as easy as Tempus wanted it to be. Amaimon stood and walked towards the balcony edge. "Don't worry about it too much, you're so close to becoming whole."

"I don't want to wait, Amaimon. I just don't want to feel anything anymore…"

He nodded as if to understand, but Tempus could feel it; he didn't understand what she was saying at all.

– Assiah –

"So, are you ready to do this?" Amaimon asked, standing on top of a lamp post. Tempus still felt disorientated from travelling into Assiah. And damn. It was _hot _that day. Tempus was suddenly glad Amaimon had made her change before arriving in Assiah. "You're not coming with me?"

"No; I don't have the best reputation in the class you'll be joining… anyway, I don't have anything to do with this. This is your time to shine, little sister. Have fun."

"I'll… try, I guess…" Tempus sighed and grabbed the pretty bag and slung it over her shoulder. Amaimon handed her a strange technological device. "What is this?"

"A phone. It has my number, Big Bro's number and some cool games and music I got for you."

"Music… sounds… fun?"

"Good word choice. Go on, have fun for once and also… try not to burn everything."

Amaimon turned and left, disappearing into the earth.

_I do not burn everything… _Tempus thought irritably and strode into the street.

A suitcase in hand, wearing black jeans and a grey singlet and a pair of red Vans, Tempus stared up at the school. Not nearly as large as the palace in Gehenna, Tempus was impressed at the structure. It was obviously built for training exorcists and ordinary human students.

_The sun… it's hot today_, Tempus thought and walked up the stairs. _Mephisto. Give me my task._

* * *

_A bit fast-paced, but there it is! And also, you may think that I've spelt (or spelled) words incorrectly like: 'colour' and 'realise' and 'favourite' __**and **__'mum'. Reason being is I'm Australian; we spell words differently to how people in America and other countries probably spell them (I've encountered this problem in Microsoft Word multiple times). So please, don't yell at me for spelling words that I've been taught to spell in a specific manner_ :)

_Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it!_

_~ EmmyTheTurtle_

_PS. If you want the chapter to be shorter, let me know! _:)


	3. Blue Flicker & Clowns

_Sorry my update has taken so long; I'm currently in America and there isn't much internet available on the laptop :) But here it is, and the third chapter right after!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**~ Blue Flicker and Clowns ~**

Tempus opened the door and strode into the school, glancing around. _This place is huge… how do I get to Mephisto?_

"Hey, what's your name?"

Tempus spun around to face a human girl. She smiled and pointed to the stairs. "If you're looking for the Headmaster, head upstairs to the top floor and knock lightly or he'll come to you. Good luck!"

"Who… who are you?"

"My name's Noriku Paku. Call me Paku, okay?"

"Sure thing…"

"What's your name?"

"Tempus Owari…"

"Owari-san, come with me!" Paku yelled in a high-pitched tone that made Tempus' ears ring loudly. "I'll take you to the Headmaster as a welcome gift." She eyes Tempus' suitcase. "Do you want me to take that for you?"

"S-Sure…" _Who knew humans could be so welcoming…?_

Paku snatched the suitcase out of Tempus' hands and grunted. "This is heavy…"

"Yeah… I'm here until I finish school."

"Really? So am I!" Paku beamed happily. "Are you… are you joining the cram school?"

Tempus shrugged. "I think I might…"

"I had to drop out last year, but my friend Izumo is there. Maybe you'll be friends with her." She smiled and turned. "Follow me."

Paku had left right after they got to the oversized golden doors. "I have to go to my class… um, good luck, I hope we're in some classes together."

Then she disappeared.

Tempus slowly lifted her hand to knock on the doors when a woman stormed out. Almost crashing into Tempus, the big-chested lady yelled out with surprise and _tsk_ed.

"Watch we're you're goin' kid." She stormed off in a huff and Tempus turned around to face the calm-looking man sitting at the desk. He was extremely strange clothing, decorated with everything cute, such as rainbow unicorns. He wore a large pink top-hat and lifted it in greeting. "Hello there, Tempus. Come in, please."

Tempus walked into and closed the doors behind her. "Mephisto," she said slowly, her eyes almost glittering. "Never thought I'd meet you under these circumstances."

"There are no circumstances," Mephisto laughed. "I'm just going what we were all told to do; get you into the exorcist cram school with no troubles. So, have you received your enrolment forms?"

"For True Cross? Of course, though 'Mum and Dad' say they'll miss me terribly while I'm away from Europe. Moving from the country has its pros and cons, after all." Tempus smirked. "Humans are so gullible."

"Until your time here is over, _you are human_," Mephisto snapped. "So don't act any different from them." He clicked his fingers and on the desk appeared three uniforms, some normal clothes and a jumpsuit for sporting activities. "These are yours, including whatever you're hiding in that suitcase and backpack. You have your phone?"

She lifted the pretty thing from her pocket. "Amaimon gave it to me."

"If anyone asks you about your family, be honest but choose your words carefully. For instance, Amaimon is your brother, call him 'your brother'… of course, you should already know how to lie very well. Oh, and one more thing." Mephisto handed Tempus a necklace, a long silver chain with a glittering black orb dangling from the end. When Tempus put the necklace on, it instantly turned bright blue. Mephisto made a low chuckled. "Keep this close to you at all times, understood?"

"Why?" Tempus asked, arching one eyebrow up.

"Demons will always recognize you as their princess. Do you want them to instantly drop to their knees and beg for your forgiveness?"

"Wouldn't mind it. But the Naberius always attack me."

"They have no common sense, the pitiful fools," Mephisto chuckled. "In any case, keep that with you. It suppresses your demon blood. Until you take that off, you will appear human in front of other demons, such as Rin."

"Right. Rin is also a demon."

"I'm not sure if that necklace still works properly. It hasn't been used… at all," Mephisto laughed and flicked his hand back and forth. "I'm sure it'll be just fine though!"

Tempus' eyelid twitched. "Yes, you're so hilarious, Mephisto. So, where am I staying?"

"You will be sharing a room with Izumo Kamiki and Noriku Paku. Their last roommate requested to be moved out because of personal reasons. Apparently Izumo Kamiki didn't like the way she dressed in public and made a 'big deal' about it, which I find quite concerning."

"I'll deal with her myself."

"I don't permit violence in my school, Tempus. Remember that." Mephisto handed Tempus two keys. "The golden key will bring you to your dorm room and the other key will take you to the cram school. I'll see you tomorrow in class, understood?"

"You teach?"

"Of course not," Mephisto laughed. "I merely observe the glasses and how Mr. Okumura teaches… and whether the class is listening to him or not."

"Rin teaches their classes?"

"No, Yukio Okumura does; Rin's twin brother."

"Oh…"

"Well, I must bid you farewell in any case…" Mephisto pointed to the door. "Just put the key into the lock and turn it; you'll be taken to your dorm room immediately. Have a good evening, and dinner is at seven sharp."

"Sure thing…" Tempus dropped the small orb she'd been fiddling with and walked towards the door, opening it without using the key.

"Oh? You're not going to your new room? Should I have your luggage relocated there for you?"

"That'd be great."

"Tempus."

"What?"

"Never take that necklace off," Mephisto said. "It isn't safe to do so."

"Why?"

"Your 'demonic aura' will attract the attention of Rin Okumura. Even though he wouldn't be able to cause even a tiny bruise, we will try to. If that was to happen, who knows what could happen if the Vatican got involved?"

"I'll take it into consideration," Tempus muttered and shut the door behind her.

Tempus stared at the small orb with curiosity, one of the main emotion which gripped her. Looking around, Tempus almost sighed with relaxation. Almost, but she felt on edge. She felt powerless with the suppression; it held back what she knew what she was capable of. But lazily lying down on the crisp grass, taking in just how long she could be in Assiah for.

_It's like… prison, I guess_, Tempus thought numbly. _Though no one tries to kill you if you do something wrong…_

"Hey," someone called gently. "Are you… okay there?"

Tempus opened her eyes to stare into a boy's face. His hair had a pink shade and his eyes were bright brown, almost like a topaz, though more rusty in the dim light. Tempus gasped and pushed him away instantly. "I was sleeping! Who are you?"

"Oww… I'm Renzo Shima," he said, smiling sheepishly. Tempus found his sheepishness quite cute, though she erased the thought from her mind. "Anyway, what name do you have, cutie?"

"I can assure you it isn't cutie," Tempus snapped. "It's Tempus. Tempus Owari."

"Can I call you Tempus?"

"No. It's Owari to you."

"Call me Shima then." That cocky attitude was getting the better of the boy already. Shima lifted his hand as an offer to shake. "I hope we can get to know one another…"

Tempus stared at the hand and said numbly, "I won't shake hands with you; who knows where that hands been."

A look of horror spread across Shima's face and he lowered his hand. "I guess that was a pretty bad impression first impression then, huh?"

She shrugged and stood up. "I guess I'll see you in some of my classes; bye, Shima."

Leaving the shocked Shima looking hopeless in his current situation of rejection, Tempus lifted up the key to her room and stepped inside, hoping to find at least one normal person in her dorm room. Secretly, she hoped that at least Paku was one of her roommates and not some strange girl with bloodshot eyes and smelt of a strange substance commonly known as 'weed' (according to Amaimon, weed was an illegal drug, similar to the Demon Smoke used in Gehenna to create a brief sense of idiocy or 'tripping out' as the demons called it). To her relief, Paku jumped down from the top left bunk and beamed at Tempus. "Hi, Tempus! This is my friend Kamiki Izumo. I told you that Tempus was pretty!"

The girl sitting on the bottom left bunk, Kamiki, looked less happy to see Tempus. "Hello, Tempus Owari. I am Kamiki Izumo. You will address me as Izumo, understood?"

"Sure thing. Call me Owari then."

"Do you dye your hair?" Izumo asked. "Because hair like that is unnatural."

"And purple hair isn't?" Tempus shot back. "Yes, my hair is naturally white. And just in case you're wondering, I don't wear contacts either. I'm not a doll."

"Whatever. My hair is naturally purple, so let's just leave it at that."

"Whatever."

It seemed that Tempus' luck was beginning to thin out. Hopefully her classes were better than her room…

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_There it is, the second chapter! Not only that, the third chapters follows on!_

_Again, criticism is welcome, but any rude comments and idiocy is unwanted -. -_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


	4. Blue Flicker & Blue Flame

_As promised, the third chapter is here. I haven't finished Chapter Four, but it will be up as soon as possible! Enjoy yourselves!_

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**Chapter Three**

**~ Blue Flicker and Blue Flame ~**

Gym class was proving to be Tempus' favourite class so far but running track was not as exciting as she would have hoped. Her speed and stamina outmatched everyone else. Across the track, Shima's class was also running track. "Wow," she heard one of them saying. "She's so fast!"

"Where did she come from?"

"Apparently from Europe, I heard. Boarding here until she finishes school."

"Here in True Cross? Aren't the schools in Europe more refined than here?"

"Dunno. But oh well, she's pretty."

When everyone had finished running track, it was time for acrobats which proved to be much more enjoyable than simple running. Elegantly flipping through the air onto the beam with a perfect landing seemed to boost the other girls' admiration substantially.

"Wo-o-ow! She's so cool!" a girl exclaimed in a way which made Tempus mentally cringe.

"Don't look so gob smacked, you'll freak the poor girl out."

Amusement crossed Tempus' face and she led the other girls into a small routine she hardly remembered herself. She simply flowed with the movements, unlike the other girls who seemed to think that rolling across the ground counted as acrobats. "Girls, get off the floor and at least do some flipping on the ground!"

Groaning, they continued to roll along the floor.

In her mind, Tempus imagine herself controlling the flame in a rhythm like this, throwing the flames at her foes, dancing along the earth as she held the fire like a whip. To her this was dancing with fire, balancing on the highest point on her world. And it felt brilliant…

At the end of her normal school day, Tempus had to attend her Cram School, or exorcist classes. As she grew closer to entering her new class, she became increasingly nervous, but not for the obvious reasons. _What if Okumura can sense my demon blood? What if he controls the flame well enough he's actually a match for me? No. that's impossible; he's only known about the flame for less than a year. He probably can't even control his demon blood._

Turning the key, Tempus stepped into a long hallway full of doors. At the end of a hallway, Tempus saw a young girl in a kimono walking into a room. "Hey," she called. "Are you in the exorcist classes?"

"Hm?" she asked, lifted her head. She had rather short blonde hair with a flower tied around a strand. Her bright green eyes and pale skin made her look like a small doll though she smelled like flowers and dirt… and fertilizer? "Oh, yes. My name is Shiemi Moriyama. Might I ask your name?"

"Tempus Owari… it's nice to meet you."

"You too, Tempus-chan! I… I think you're very pretty!"

"… Is Owari in our class!?"

A feeling of dread washed over Tempus. "Izumo is in this class?"

"Of course I am! I'm an exorcist, Exwire class! You?"

"Exwire," Tempus snapped. Mephisto had managed to pull some strings to get her into the same class as them, whether or not she had any experience in exorcism.

"Owari-chan!" Shima cried, standing up. "Come sit next to me! Konekomaru, sit there!"

"I'm fine… I'll sit over here," Tempus muttered, pulling a chair out. _I don't see the twins anywhere._

"Yukio, wait – OW!"

"Hurry up, Nii-san!" a new voice shouted angrily. "We're late because of you and your eating habits!"

"It's not my fault Suguro got the last sandwich!"

"I don't care, hurry up!"

The first voice cracked. "Yukio–"

"There they are, right on time as usual… where's Bon?" Shima asked, laughing.

"Who's Bon and Suguro?"

"Oh, that's our nickname for him," the short boy with glasses, Konekomaru, said while adjusting his glasses. "They're the same person. By the way, what's your name? Shima here briefly described you as–"

"Now, now, Owari-chan doesn't need to hear that."

A small smile edged on Tempus' lips as the two brothers crashed into the class. Instantly, Tempus felt what had been growing stronger since she'd walked into the room; a small presence lingering in the class. The flame which had been residing had exploded and sent Tempus' senses into overdrive. The boy who was currently on the ground, growling ferocious words, was Rin Okumura. Tempus didn't need his overwhelming power to confirm it; the pointed ears and tail was enough convincing.

"Who's the new girl?" he asked, smiling brightly and waving. "I'm Rin Okumura, future Paladin!"

"Tempus Owari."

"Not the friendly type, huh?" he asked. "Come on, Shiemi can make you feel more welcomed than this lot."

"Hey, I saw her first!" Shima interjected, frowning. "And you're oblivious to the fact she's a very cute girl!"

To her surprise, Tempus felt her cheeks flush ever so slightly. No boy had ever referred to Tempus as 'cute' let alone the group of boys who had been perverting on her in PE. Quickly dismissing the thought of a potential distraction from her original task, Tempus pulled out her textbooks from her desk. _No. No romantic relationships. This is business only._

To her surprise, Shima came down and sat next to her, smiling. "So, do you know where all your classes are? I mean, I'm in your Literacy, Mathematics and I think your Social Studies class too! I saw you sitting at the back? Looking all sad and sulky?"

"Shima, don't overwhelm her," Rin's twin brother called, moving towards them. It was getting hotter by the day, and Tempus was wondering how Yukio managed to keep the thing on. "My name is Yukio Okumura. The rioter behind me is my brother, Rin. It's nice to see a new student in my class."

"You're… the same age as me."

"I started training when I was eleven, so that makes me… well, a higher rank than you." He smiled nervously and pointed to Rin. "In case, you don't know, my brother and I are sons of Satan."

They were very open about this… surprising. "Well, before class starts, I would like to have a quiet word with Miss Owari in private."

Shima looked like he was in pain. "Ohh… alright."

"Do you want me to stay, Yukio?" Rin asked, readying his sword. Tempus tensed, preparing herself. But he had a challenging smile plaguing his lips, and he burst into laughter when Yukio shot him a venomous glare. "I was joking, little brother; I'll wait outside."

The class dispersed and closed the door behind them. Tempus stood up and stared at Yukio, narrowing her eyes. "So, Mr. Okumura, what is it you–"

He lifted his gun instantly. "What do you want with my brother, Tempus?"

Shock struck Tempus like the bullets loaded in Yukio's gun. However, she kept her face neutral and met his glare. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't play coy with me. Mephisto told me about you. You're our half-sister, correct?"

Tempus let herself smile. A cold, heartless smile that made Yukio flinch. "Well then, I guess there's no point in denying it. Yes, I am your half-sister. But before I say anything more, put the gun down. I'm not about to kill any of the people in this class, or Rin for that matter. I'm not like my brother, who likes to play rough with Rin and his other… toys."

"Amaimon?"

"And I'm guessing you've also awakened to your flame." Tempus pointed to Yukio's ears and tiny, tiny fangs. "Aww, you've still got your baby fangs!"

"I will shoot," Yukio snarled. "No hesitation."

Tempus _tsk_ed. "I wasn't joking. First off, your fangs are ridiculously small. Secondly, both you and Rin combined isn't enough to bring me down, so don't bother. Thirdly, put the gun down. I've already said several times I'm not going to attack unless you force me to."

Slowly, he lowered the gun. "Listen here, don't bring up my 'baby fangs' again, they're fine. But remember, I will shoot you if you threaten my brother."

"I don't need to be told twice, Yukio. So… can we continue to be civilized folk?"

Yukio's eyes narrowed. "I'm watching you."

"Don't sound like a creep; Shima might get jealous."

Yukio cracked a smile. "I wouldn't bother even trying to make that boy jealous. He's fusses over any girl he considers pretty."

Tempus shrugged. "I doubt he can woo me anyway."

Yukio's expression became softer. "Two seconds ago you were an emotionless statue. Now you've turned into a normal girl. Think I'm not a threat?"

"I know you aren't. You bullets would hurt, but they can't kill me. And I can't sense your flame at all; it's too weak."

Yukio shrugged. "Personally, I prefer it that way. Rin's reckless with his and it gets him into trouble. So… he won't know about this, understood?"

"I had planned to keep it that way. So we're on equal terms. Fantastic. I look forward to learning from your… wisdom and intelligence." Tempus smiled once again, this time in a kinder matter. "So, can everyone come back inside and continue the class?"

"Of course." Yukio walked to the door and opened it. "Okay everyone, we're finished!"

"At least this time the class hasn't been destroyed," Suguro muttered. "Rin blew it up, didn't he?"

"My bad," Rin muttered and chuckled nervously. "I didn't know exactly what I was doing back them."

Shima laughed and sat down next to Tempus. "Later, I can show you around the school if you want."

"I'm fine, I can find my own way," Tempus said, imitating a sweet kindness. "But thank you for asking."

Shima sighed in defeat, but smiled and shrugged it off. "There's always next time."

In front of them, Izumo made an unattractive snorting sound. "Whatever."

* * *

_Aand I can finally get to sleep! Thank you for reading the third chapter, and Chapter Four will be up as soon as I get new internet connection and when I've finished Chapter Four..._

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


	5. Blue Flicker & Delightful Quisine

_This holiday gives me little or no internet at all, and so I am very, very sorry for this long wait... but I hope you like this chapter and the one after. As soon as I can, I'll submit all of the other chapter I've written (and they're getting longer and longer too, so I hope you like long chapters and whatever humour I provide... if you find it funny at all... ha-ha...)_

_But anyway, here you go! _

_~EmmyTheTurtle _

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**~ Blue Flicker and Delightful Cuisine ~**

It had been a week.

A week of horrible classes in regular school, creepy boys asking Tempus for a date, a week of Kamiki's constant complaining and whining about how much homework was given to the class in one lesson, a week of Yukio's constant glaring and watchful stare. There were so many things Tempus had never noticed in Gehenna that were considered irrelevant in life were so important in Assiah it made her want to cry, if she could even manage a tear…

_Geez, why does the length of my hair and… what are split ends anyway? Whatever they are, I don't have any._

Apparently that was amazing, not that Tempus really cared. She'd grown accustomed to wearing her hair up in a pony-tail and letting two long strands fall at the sides of her face, framing her cheekbones and eyes. Paku had been sweet enough to lend Tempus a strange lotion called 'make-up'.

"You don't really need it," Paku had said, smiling sweetly like she usually did. Tempus liked the girl quite a lot. "But you'd look stunning if you put on a small amount of eyeliner around your eyes. Do you know how to?"

Slightly embarrassed, Tempus shook her head. Paku laughed. "I'm not surprised, you don't even need it! Can we experiment?"

"S-Sure…"

"Why bother if she doesn't need it?" Kamiki inquired. Tempus found that she had a point. "If she's a as pretty as they guys say, why let them drool over her further? Anyway, Shiemi invited us out for lunch on Saturday. Do we go or stay?"

An invitation out to lunch sounded nice, considering Yukio had been saying that previous day they would be going on a mission on Friday. Paku smiled. "That'd be great! Hang on, I'll just get some blush for your face. Be back in a second!"

She dashed off and Kamiki went back to her book. Tempus snuck a look in the mirror to see how she looked. "Does Paku plan to turn me into a clown?" she asked the air. She heard Kamiki lower her book and giggled. "What?" Tempus asked. "What's so funny?"

"You," Kamiki snorted. "You could have just said no, Paku wouldn't have taken any offence."

Tempus scrunched up her face. Paku entered the room again and held eyeliner in her hand. "Come on, look up at the roof and I'll apply the eyeliner. Izumo-chan, that job Yukio-san and Rin-san were talking about at lunch; it's a mission, isn't it? Naberius demons?"

Kamiki nodded and Paku tensed briefly before smiling. "Well, I know you'll both be fine."

Tempus glanced between the two and noticed a small sheet of sweat appearing on Paku's forehead. Knowing that Naberius demons were particularly irritating and had no common sense in the least besides following direct orders from Tamer exorcists who summoned them and her father, Tempus was curious as to what made Paku appeared so nervous.

Then she noticed the burn scars on her neck. Naberius saliva was quite poisonous and burned whatever it touched, which made unsuspecting humans quite vulnerable. But weren't they anyway? Tempus made no mention of the burns and stared up at the ceiling, flinching when Paku accidentally poked her in the eye.

"Sorry!" Paku yelped. "Aand… wee'ree… done!" She happily handed Tempus a mirror and smiled, hoping for a positive response.

Tempus was amazed. The eyeliner now lightly covering her eyelids brought out her bright, big blue eyes stand out like the flame in pitch blackness. She loved it and a smile – a genuine, joyous smile – spread out across her face. "It's… awesome. I love it."

"Great!" Paku clapped her hands together. She handed Tempus the eyeliner. "Keep it; I don't use it and Izumo-chan says she has no use for it…"

Tempus nodded and felt the brief flood of happiness fade away. "Thank you."

Kamiki snapped her book closed. "We should get to sleep; the mission requires a lot of strength and endurance. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Izumo-chan, Tempus!" Paku beamed.

"Night," Tempus whispered and closed her eyes, slowly entering that strange world called her imagination… if she had one…

* * *

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Yukio asked. "Rin? Are you listening? And what are you doing with your sword?"

"What? Tempus wanted to look."

Yukio shot her a dark look and she shrugged, staring at the Kurikara with curiosity. Rin smiled proudly. "You like it? If you haven't guessed already, it… um…"

"Secures your flame and keeps your demon nature in check, right?"

His eyes, similar to the colour of Tempus', widened in surprise. "Y-Yeah… spot on. Who told you?"

_Crap._ "Well, the older exorcists were talking… don't ask me who, I don't know." Looking at his hurt expression, Tempus smiled. "Look… if you think that I secretly despise your existence and want you dead because of the Blue night which was years and years ago, you're very wrong."

A look of relief came over Rin's face. "Good, for a second I thought you wanted to steal it… that's happened before, you know."

Oh, she knew. Amaimon hadn't shut up about it for weeks afterwards, seething with anger. "I should had snapped it in half!" he had been shouting, smashing her favourite music box. He'd instantly calmed down afterwards and apologized about the box, telling her he'd get it fixed.

"Well, I'm sure you're going to be more careful, aren't you?"

"I have been… my control's getting better. Well, Shura says so anyway… I can only light a candle without burning a house down, but… it's better than what I used to be like…"

_Lighting a candle is… well, a four-year-old me could do it easily, but since he's weaker than me, I'm impressed… wish I could at least give him some tips, but –_

"Come on, Yukio's getting impatient," Rin muttered and put the sword into the red velvet case. He looked her up and down. "You're not taking any weapons?"

"Nah," Tempus smiled. "Martial arts is good enough for me." _If I take the necklace off, they should submit to me anyway… maybe Astaroth can help me out._ Earlier that day, Tempus had given her rather twisted brother a call, asking him to distract them so she could kill them. _He said he'd come, it was just a case of him finding 'the boy'._

Tempus guessed he was talking about the kid he'd possessed who had been exorcised months ago when Rin had first awakened. _But if that kid's purified, Astaroth won't be able to possess him… so…_

"Owari-chan, come on!" Shima called, waving at her. "We're driving all day! Sit next to me!"

"Shima-san, you're being creepy," Konekomaru laughed. "Let her choose."

"Tempus-san, sit with me!" Shiemi called lightly. "I want to show you something that you might find… cool!"

Tempus sat with Shiemi, who handed her a small book. "It's all about summoning. Look, one of our teachers, Mr. Neuhaus, can summon Naberius demons, which is pretty high-class taming. I'm trying to summon a high-class greenman, but Nee here is pretty good too!"

The little greenman waved at her happily. "_Nee~!_"

"Hey, Nee," Tempus giggled, faking entertainment. Yukio sat down next to Rin and glanced behind him, shooting a glance at Tempus and Shiemi. "Say, Yukio. When do we stop for lunch?"

"A few hours from now. Hungry already?" Yukio teased lightly. "Rin's cooking."

"You cook?" Tempus asked and Rin laughed. A cat with a missing fang appeared beside him and meowed. Trying not to show her surprise when the cat started talking, his little voice peering into her mind.

"_Rin is an amazing cook! You'll love his sukiyaki!_"

"I'm not that good," Rin murmured. "And she can't hear you anyway."

When he turned, the cat raised an invisible eyebrow. "_Can you hear me?_"

Tempus winked and the cat grinned before turning back and talking to Rin eagerly about lunch. Shiemi continued to entertain Tempus with trivia from the book. Shima played on his phone, Suguro and Konekomaru recited passes from the bible, making Tempus feel woozy. The bible wasn't as accurate as it once had been once it had been written, but the words still had the same meaning. It was enough to make her doze off when Shiemi had stopped reading. At the back of the bus, Kamiki snorted with laughter.

_Damn bible passes… never though they'd be enough to knock me out…_

"We're stopping for lunch! Everyone out and stretch your legs."

"Finally! What is the fantastic chef cooking for us today?" Shima asked, stretching out his arms and legs. "Rice and curry? Pasta? Meat? Your favourite dish?"

"Just some meatballs, nothing too special."

Tempus grew curious as be began to chop the vegetable. She crouched near the small portable table and watched him hack away. "You fight like you cook?" she asked.

"No, but he wishes he could," Suguro taunted. "If he could fight at all."

"I can still kick your backside with a kitchen knife!" Rin insisted, pointing the knife at him. Suguro laughed.

"I'll consider that quite true," Suguro chuckled and held his hands up. "But that fire doesn't look very strong yet…"

Rin glanced down at it and looked back at Suguro. "No experiments. We agreed on that much."

"No, just get another match. We're not gonna light the forest on fire today."

Tempus sat next to the fire and stared at it for a while. It was cold, compared to the normal velocity of her flames. She wondered if Rin's were similar to hers, or like this ordinary orange fire. Amaimon had described Rin to be horrific when he slipped from humanity. She wondered if Rin was as strong as they claimed to be.

"You've been staring at that fire for at least five minutes now. You thinking about something?"

"My brother," Tempus said, glancing up at Shima. He was smiling as he sat down next to her, poking at the fire with a stick.

"What's he like?" Shima asked.

"Well…" _Can't tell him his name… if Shima asks anyway. _"He's kind of childish, but considerate. Loved to play with me when I was little."

"Is he at our school?"

"No, he's back in Europe. Boarding school." _This is easier than I thought._

Shima moved a little closer. Tempus glanced at him and his gaze held hers for a few seconds. Tempus had never noticed before, but Shima's eyes weren't plain brown, they were a bright topaz colour, though not gold; it wasn't possible for a human's eyes to be golden. Tempus had never seen eyes quite like Shima's, or the way they perked up when he smiled. She noticed that he had slight regrowth at the roots of his hair; it was naturally brown, not that weird pinkish colour.

_Wait._

_I am _not_ crushing on a human._

Tempus broke the eye contact and stood up. "I'm going to get the grill for Rin."

She walked away and she heard laughter coming from Suguro. "Well then, are you getting anywhere?" he asked, a little too loudly. Tempus walked back to the bus and found Yukio already getting the grill. When he saw her, he handed the grill to Tempus.

"Okay then," Tempus muttered. Yukio's little fangs poked out and she laughed. "Are you sure that those count as fangs?"

"Shut up… are you trying to woo Shima?" Yukio asked suddenly. "And don't give me that shocked look; I saw you flirting with him."

Tempus glanced around, making sure that no one could hear. "Did you also catch that I was talking about Amaimon?"

"I caught onto that when you said he was childish and liked to play around."

"Good guess," Tempus chuckled. "And by the way, I wasn't flirting with Shima. It was the other way around."

"Lunch would be ready if I had that grill!" Rin called, appearing beside them. Tempus noted that Rin's fangs were just as tiny and Yukio's.

_Ah, there it is. Humanity shrank their big-boy fangs_, she laughed quietly to herself. Then came another thought: _Wait. That means my fangs are just as tiny._ "Well, here's your grill," Tempus said, handing Rin the grill. She turned and walked into the review mirror on the other side of the bus, opening her mouth to glance at her fangs. They were smaller, though not by much. She thanked her near-zero humanity for that.

Rin walked by her and she snapped her jaw shut. "Flossing or something?"

"Yeah. I like having clean teeth."

"Well, I'm almost done cooking, if you want to help mix while I make the pasta."

"Sure, why not?"

Rin handed her a spoon and a hairclip. "Use this to tie your hair back. Your fringe might get messed up."

"I don't have a fringe, but–"

"Take it anyway; that hair of yours will block your vision."

"Okay, okay." Tempus pinned her hair back and began to stir the pot around and around, sniffing the mixture occasionally. "Spaghetti and meatballs? Classic."

"And simple too, easy to clean and to cook. Speaking of which, the meatballs are sticking. Make sure they don't fall apart when you lift them out of the pot either. The pasta's almost done." Rin pointed to the cat. "He wants one, if you can't tell by his hanging around."

"_Can I have one? Just one_?"

Tempus blinked a couple of times and turned to face Rin. "They're hot; could burn his tongue, seeing as cat tongues are pretty sensitive to hot foods."

"Oh, right. Put one in a tin bowel over there and he'll wait until it cools down." Rin was entirely focused on the pasta. The cat, Blacky, padded over to Tempus and rubbed against her leg. Tempus put down a small bowel and put two meatballs into it. She stroked Blacky and blew on the meatballs for him.

"_Thank you, missy!_"

Rin clapped his hands together. "Done! Time to dig in! Everyone grab how much you want."

It was gone within ten minutes. Tempus had gone back for seconds, even. And was it _delicious._

* * *

_Goodness... This chapter is HUGE! Maybe I should shrink them a little... can you all be lovely and let me know if they're too big or too small? Thank you!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


	6. Blue Flicker & Naberius Scum

_Okay, so here's your second chapter for today! I hope you enjoy this one... I might submit another, since I've written so much while driving around :3_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**~ Blue Flicker and Naberius Scum ~**

The drive was another couple of hours before they arrived at the designated area. Another long knock-out session was good for Tempus, though when she woke up she felt queasy. "You get carsick?" Shiemi asked, helping Tempus get out of the car, who still felt sick from all of the reciting Suguro and Konekomaru had been doing. They'd been dead-set on killing off the Naberius demon ASAP so Suguro could get back to his new sporting game: soccer. He'd invited Rin to train too, but Rin was against having his tail tucked in during training.

Suguro had responded by pulling at Rin's tail. She knew from experience that a tail being pulled or stuck under an object was painful and she'd rather that never happened to any good demon, half-blooded demon or full-blooded demon. "No, just tired… I guess," Tempus murmured, shaking her head clear of any holy crap going on. "I guess I'll be up all night, huh?"

"I'll stay up with you. The Naberius are really active during the night." Shiemi was buzzing. Was she always so smiley and happy? Tempus continued to wonder as they loaded their stuff into an old warehouse. A day's drive and they'd be back by the next day if the mission went smoothly. Apparently they hardly ever did whenever Rin drew his sword. Setting up sleeping bags and tents was easy; it was getting Tempus and Kamiki to share a tent that was much more difficult.

"Sharing a room with her is hard enough!" Kamiki snapped. Tempus kept her face calm and strode into the tent, throwing Kamiki's stuff out. "Hey! Put my stuff back in there!"

"You said you didn't want to share," Tempus muttered. "So get your own tent."

Suguro instantly lost it. "Well? You heard her. Sleep in Shima's tent then."

"I'd rather rot."

"That's fine with me, too," Tempus shrugged and began to turn the door of the tent. She whipped out her phone and checked; Amaimon had messaged her.

_Gimme a call when you can… Mr. Rot can't make it, so I need some info on what to bring with me, like, do you want to see Behemoth? I can bring him along if you want._

Tempus smiled and quickly wrote a reply: _Yeah, bring Behemoth along. You can play tag with Rin again if you want, too._

Instantly: _YAY! Wait, is Shiemi gonna be there?_

She chuckled and rolled her eyes: _Yeah. No maggot infection this time._

_Aww… but can I at least hug her?_

_As long as you don't kidnap her. Just a quick hug and that's all._

There wasn't a response afterwards; he must already be on his way to Assiah. He just couldn't help but get excited when Shiemi was involved in something; his little crush on her seemed to intensify whenever he was nearby, not that Tempus really cared. Amaimon never really cared for ancient laws to do with infatuations between demons and humans. He claimed that though this was his first crush on a human, it had been his first crush… ever. So he was extremely excited to actually have feelings for anyone – or anything.

Tempus had never bothered to mention Amaimon could have possibly found a mate. Even with his childish ways of living and occasional massacre-style plots and thoughts, Amaimon probably knew it too.

When demons find a mate, it's for life. No exceptions.

Tempus sat up and put her phone in her pocket, exiting the tent. Kamiki had begun to set up her own tent with Konekomaru trying to help. Beside them, Suguro and Shima were laughing together, high-fiving whenever Konekomaru dropped something.

"You know, if you guys helped, I'd really appreciate it!"

Shiemi had found some nice flowers and was tending to them with Nee. Tempus walked over to Shiemi and squatted down, watching her tend to the flowers. "You like plants?"

"Yes! My grandmother taught me everything I know about plants!"

_So she loves the earth. King of Earth like girl who likes the earth. Fitting…_

"Can you show me your talents?" Tempus asked, lowering herself to her knees. "I'm no good with plants, so I'm interested."

"Sure! See these daisies? Well…" Shiemi babbled on for ages and ages about daisies alone. Tempus struggled to understand why such a small flower needed so much care, attention and dedication, but could see why Shiemi was a gentle and shy person. Nee and Shiemi were excellent as a team… when it came to plants anyway, she wasn't too sure about combat skills just yet…

"Shiemi… have you heard of Amaimon?"

She tensed slightly. "Yes. He attacked Rin earlier this year and Kamiki-san told me he had a parasite infect me so I'd do what he wanted."

_Okay, so he has strange ways of showing his affection. Cut him some slack, we demons have no social skills. At all. _"So… he did what afterwards?"

"Rin said something about him trying to lick my face and steal my eyeballs."

_Even I can agree that's a little too strange. I need to talk to him about his kissing skills. _"Steal… your eyeballs?"

"Yep. Anyway," Shiemi brushed back her hair and smiled at Tempus. "I haven't seen him since then. So we're glad about that."

_Oops. _Tempus smiled sweetly, but her insides were killing her. She could have made this easier for her brother, but giving away too much would be too risky. That included being romantically involved with the pink-haired flirt standing behind her who was also smiling quite cutely.

_Damn pink hair gets me every time. Can only imagine what my father would be thinking right now, and my brothers. _Tempus felt her lip twitch slightly. "Shiemi, does her always stalk girls like this?"

Shiemi laughed. "No, unless he actually wants to get somewhere with a girl, I'm guessing."

"Moriyama-chan, I'm offended! I don't stalk them, I admire from a distance!"

"I think that counts as stalking," Tempus muttered. About ten meters away, Suguro and Rin burst into uncontrollable laughter. Shima just sighed and did that cocky smile he did. It almost threw Tempus off the rails with the pearly white teeth. He must have mastered that smile just by using a mirror and two girls as practiced. She guessed that Paku and Kamiki had been his target, though Kamiki had obviously blown him off completely, which made her feel sorry for him.

_No, no, no. NO. No feelings. Oh, but he's so cute…_

Tempus stood up and walked by Shima. He turned back to Shiemi and crouched down near her, casually making conversation. Tempus stormed passed the group and towards the warehouse. Barely hearing protest from Yukio and Rin, Tempus opened the warehouse doors and shut them behind her. _Knowing the Naberius, they won't come out until the sun goes down. I have time to let off some steam._

_I'm NOT falling for a stupid flirtatious human! Not now and not ever!_

Tempus went to take the necklace off, but stopped. "It's this," she whispered. "This thing makes me vulnerable to human emotions. I knew it, but…"

"You know, you flipped out back there."

Tempus glanced up. "Hey."

Amaimon shrugged his shoulders and pulled out the lollipop in his mouth. "And that guy, is his name Renzo Shima? I kinda threw him against a tree and broke a couple of his ribs."

"Charming, Amaimon, real charming."

"I know, I'm just that kind of person."

"You're here early. Couldn't keep yourself away from Shiemi, right?"

"Of course I can… I, um… was looking forward to messing around with Rin again, that's… all…" He didn't make eye contact.

"Are so _are_! Don't lie to me!" Tempus began to laugh, a strange laugh and snorting sounds she'd never heard herself do before. Amaimon squinted his eyes and titled his head to the side.

"Maybe you should take that off for a little. Have you taken it off since getting it? It's been a week."

Tempus regained control of herself. "No… I haven't."

He shrugged. "Well… Big bro doesn't want you to take it off, but you can tonight, while Behemoth and I distract them all. You can take them down."

"It would attract too much attention," Tempus muttered, fiddling with the pendant. "And plus, where's Astaroth? Can't he possess someone new?"

"Apparently he's too uptight."

"Seriously? He's so lazy."

"He is, so he gets most of his kin to do his dirty work. Like the Naberius for example."

"Tempus? Hey! Tempus, where are you?" Rin's voice echoed throughout the warehouse. "Tempus!? Shima's complaining!"

Amaimon glanced behind him and looked back at Tempus, smirking. "'Shima's complaining'?"

"Shut up." Giving her brother a playful kick to the groin, Tempus walked towards Rin, who was just walking towards the entrance the basement of the warehouse. "I'm over here, just cooling off."

"Cooling… off? Is there a pool or something?"

"No. Every heard of clearing your head?"

"Sure, I do it all the time. I'm a hotheaded person." Rin appeared when Tempus rounded the corner. She spared a glance behind her, but Amaimon had already disappeared. Probably into the basement to psyche the Naberius up. "Anyway, Yukio wanted me to get you. Said something about reviewing the mission for the fifth time today."

Tempus nodded and followed Rin out of the warehouse. "Say, are you sure going in without a weapon is a good idea?"

"I'm sure a pass from the Bible will help out… I enjoy throwing the punches and kicks rather than swinging a sword around like a lunatic."

"For the record, swinging a sword around does not make me a lunatic. And you haven't seen me swing my sword around; I started a forest fire once."

_I heard about it from the local demon newspaper; not even Father would shut up about it for days. _The thought appeared sarcastically in her mind. "Well, hopefully that never happens again, right?"

He shrugged lightly. "Yeah. Hopefully… by the way, I found Yukio in the bathroom, looking at the mirror. He said something about 'baby fangs'?"

Tempus snorted and held her mouth together. "Well… why's he so stressed about it?"

"Well, look at mine. Pretty small, but when I take out y sword, it's like – BAM!" Rin made a dramatic hand gesture. "Instant monster-face."

_You have no idea what monstrous looks like…_

"Baby fangs… I wonder where he got that idea from."

"Didn't tell me where he got that idea from, but he freaks out over small thinks, like his moles. Woke up once because I had to scream at him. Find of funny at the time, but now I think that he's got some kind of OCD disease… freaks me out a little."

"Rin! Tempus! Hurry up, sunset is getting closer!"

They scurried through the dirt track and joined the others at camp. Yukio had whipped out the file containing all of the information about the mission. When Rin and Tempus were close and had stopped moving, he gave everyone the basic information about the mission. Two Naberius demons were suspected of hiding inside the basement of an old warehouse a few hours outside of True Cross, apparently guilty of killing a couple of workers years ago. Why they send exorcists out to finish the job now is unclear to Yukio, though he thinks it's because Mephisto was incredibly lazy when he started working here. "So, do we all know what we're doing? Kamiki will lure them out, Shiemi will block off the Naberius poison with Nee, Suguro and Konekomaru will recite passages from the bible in incapacitate them while Shima, Tempus and Rin take them down."

"Me…?" Shima asked. "I only got my staff!"

"Gimme the staff and you can have Yukio's guns," Tempus said.

"What? No, you're not having my guns," Yukio snapped. "And you said that you didn't need weapons."

"I'm just saying that if Mr. Wimp here wants a real weapon, I'll take the staff out of his hands."

"I'm quite happy with my staff," Shima protested, bringing it closer to him. "Good for swatting bugs."

"Bugs?"

"Have you seen the size of cockroaches? The ones of Australia _fly_. Well, I mean, all cockroaches can, but these ones, they–"

"Enough bug-talk," Kamiki snapped. "Let's go."

* * *

It was nearing eight-thirty when they surfaced. Luckily, everyone was hidden within the lovely shadows that Tempus was so used to. Across the warehouse, Shima had his staff prepared to be thrown. She glanced around. _Wherever he is, Rin knows how to hide._

The Naberius crawled out from the ground, the smell of dead flesh and burning corpses instantly filling up the warehouse. Tempus heard everyone inhale sharply and block their noses. "That's gross," someone hissed quietly. "Shh!" another snapped. Tempus rolled her eyes and glared at the Naberius. _I swear, the instant they recognize me is the instant I become Little Miss Satan again. My tenth birthday was bad enough._

Kamiki had just begun to summon two fox demons when there was a crash in the glass from above. A single flash of green hair and a small goblin-like creature dashed down with him, bound by a lovely silver chain. "Yahaa~!"

_Perfect timing._

"What!?" Yukio shouted. Nothing could hide that shock from his face. Tempus almost laughed. The Naberius demons shrank away back into the darkness when there was a loud scream coming from Shiemi. But Amaimon was standing in the middle of the warehouse…

Tempus didn't hesitate. Either Shiemi had been clumsy or Nee couldn't defend her. "Tempus, protect Shiemi! We'll go after Amaimon!" Rin drew his sword and the flame, the familiar, almost comforting heat of the flame, threw Tempus off of her trance completely. "What? Go, now!"

Tempus took off and found Nee barely managing to protect Shiemi from the Naberius. Tempus didn't hesitate to kick the thing out of the way. The demon flew across the air into a wall, where the bricks fell on top of it. No one seemed to notice that Tempus had incredible strength; they were too focused on Amaimon. He seemed to be preoccupied with making sure Shiemi wasn't hurt. "Hmm… I know! Remember when we played tag that one time? Well," he lightly landed in front of Suguro. "Tag! You're 'it'!"

A light flick from his fingers threw Suguro into the wall, though perhaps a little too close to Tempus. "Get up and get him!"

Helping him stand, Suguro began to run forwards when he noticed the Naberius struggling to stand up. "What'd you do?"

"Just this." Tempus strode forward and brought her foot down, further crushing the demon. "Well? Go! Lure him away from here, make sure he doesn't get close to Shiemi!"

"You're too rude!" Amaimon moaned and leapt out of the way of Rin's sword, laughing as his coat caught aflame. "A little catch-up was in order! And you got my favourite coat lit up, Rin. Not a nice thing to do."

"I'm going to burn you apart! I did a few months ago!" Rin snarled.

Tempus didn't bother to mention that Mephisto's green pet hamster call 'Amai' was actually Amaimon possessing a little cute hamster. He'd found it hilarious, but was happy to get a body back. Thankfully it looked exactly like the last guy he'd possessed – it was a matter of getting the clothes he wanted that was tricky. Clearly Amaimon had no experience with money; he'd stolen them all.

Amaimon jumped out of the hole in the roof and disappeared. The Naberius demon was getting up and Shiemi was cowering in the corner, trying to regain her strength. The gas had been released? Tempus waited, kicking the Naberius down once more. "Go after him! I can take it from here!"

"Are you sure?" Rin asked. Suguro and Kamiki had already disappeared. Konekomaru was waiting for Yukio, who seemed conflicted about what to do. "I can help!"

"I'll be fine, now go! He'll get away! Go, go, go!"

Rin didn't hesitate. He was more focused on Amaimon than a Naberius demon. "Yukio, stay here with her! Koneko, come with me!"

_Well then,_ Tempus thought. Yukio began to protest, but Rin and Konekomaru were already gone. He turned back to face Tempus and she shrugged. The demon was getting up again. He began to fire his gun, moving towards Tempus. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

Tempus lifted up her necklace. "Make sure she doesn't see."

Shiemi was trying to summon Nee again, but was struggling to breathe. Tempus grinned. "Hold her, keep her breathing. Look or don't look if you want. This is going to get ugly."

Yukio moved down to Shiemi and cradled her. "Shiemi?"

She'd passed out already. Tempus lifted her necklace and pulled it over her head, removing the barrier keeping her from full power. When it was gone, she exhaled. Her body relaxed, a flood over power rushing through her body. Tempus blinked and her vision was hazed with blue. The flame felt like a drug. The strange, almost peaceful feeling was incredible.

"Much better," Tempus gasped, admiring the way the blue flame moved in rhythm to her movements.

Yukio visibly flinched. Clearly he'd never seen Rin acting the way Tempus was acting now. The Naberius demon screeched in fear, but Tempus pushed him down with her bare hands. The heat from her flame burned through its skin. "Listen, you Naberius scum," Tempus hissed. Her voice took on a sharp edge, haunting. Terrifying. "You'll go back to Gehenna, understood?"

"_You… I'm… sorry…_"

"Doubtful," Tempus snarled. "I'm not interested in your apology. Your kind – they tick me off to no end. So maybe I should kill you instead, huh?"

"_Please…_"

"Hmm…" Tempus lifted one of her hands and lowered her nail into its eyes. The creature began to screech in pain. Her grin twisted into a sneer. "Nah."

Its body began to burn. Slowly, painfully. "Burn, baby, burn."

The Naberius was dead, disappearing into smoldering ash. Yukio stood up, staring at Tempus with clear horror in his eyes. "I should shoot you right now," he whispered.

"Those bullet would sting, but that's about it. Maybe holy water could do more damage." Tempus stood straight, flicking her hand clean of the Naberius' dead flesh. "But little things can't do much damage to me. Maybe an exorcism or two could do… more permanent damage." Tempus gazed down at the necklace and reluctantly put in back on. The buzz went away instantly.

Yukio lowered his gun. "I've never seen that happen before… not with Rin – ever."

"What do you mean?"

"The way you acted… it was… horrible."

Tempus arched an eyebrow. "That's how it goes. I imagine that Rin looked more monster than man when he slipped up that one time?"

"You mean…"

"Yes, I think every exorcist and demon in Assiah and Gehenna knows about his slip-up. 'More monster than human,' they all said. Even for demon standards, he was overpowered by the flame."

Yukio sighed and glanced down at Shiemi. She was still unconscious. "When Rin lost control… we all thought that that was it; he was gone. The sword had cracked. The Vatican had him, were threatening to kill him. Amaimon had gathered his little army… Rin stopped him."

Tempus remembered that, too. Amaimon had been very broken and burned after Rin had obliterated him. But he'd been quick to heal and regain whatever strength he'd been harvesting. "Not entirely. Killing a demon isn't as easy as killing their body. That hadn't even been _his_ body, it had been the boy who was possessed. So, when you think about it…"

Yukio began to sweat. "Rin killed the boy instead."

Tempus clicked her fingers. "Right on the money."

He sighed. "I doubt Rin's figured this out…"

"Figured what out?"

"Rin," Tempus said suddenly. "Where's Amaimon?"

"He got away," Rin muttered, frowning. He looked down at Shiemi, who was beginning to wake up. "Shiemi! Are you okay?"

"The Naberius… knocked me unconscious… where'd it go!?"

"Those chants Suguro and Konekomaru had been reciting," Tempus answered smoothly. "I used them."

Suguro frowned, but accepted the explanation. "So, who's up for Rin's cooking tonight?"

"Sure thing," Shima grinned widely. "What's on the menu?"

"How about… once we get back, I can cook you all your favourite meals."

"Yes! I'll have chicken!" Shiemi and Kamiki cried.

"Steak!" everyone else beamed. Yukio just sighed and smiled.

"Great choice. I'll have both."

"You can't have both!" Rin objected. Yukio's grin surprised Tempus. He looked playful.

"I'm the smarter brother, can have whatever I want from the dumber one."

"I'm the older brother!"

"Doesn't matter, you're an idiot," Yukio teased. Everyone began to laugh as their bickering continued into onto the bus, through the drive all the way until they reached the kitchen in the old boy's dorm.

Dinner was once again delicious.

* * *

_And there we have it. Once again, constructive and positive criticism is welcome, negative or useless comments are wanted or necessary, thank you!_

_(And also, I've finally figured out how to show readers the change in time! So, for any confusion that you previously noticed, I hope this clears it up! And also, my editing skills are terrible, so any Tiny Typos as we'll call them that you may notice, let me know! Thanks!)_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


	7. Blue Flicker & A Flower's Bloom

_Sweet, good internet! My holiday is almost over, so chapters will be posted regularly soon :) Aand here it is, Chapter Six!_

_As usual, positive and constructive criticism is welcome, negative and useless comments are not. Enjoy~_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**~ Blue Flicker and a Flower's Bloom ~**

It hadn't occurred to Tempus that Shiemi's grandmother's garden was barricaded with a lovely demon-repelling fence. Kamiki had gone to get Paku, so she was stuck wondering how on earth she was supposed to get in without the fence collapsing at her touch. From what Tempus could see, the garden was stunning. Flowers of every kind bloomed all over the place. Shiemi couldn't be seen. _I guess I'll try the shop… her mother must be here somewhere._

Tempus opened the door to the old supply shop and walked in to see a plump middle-aged women with dark brown hair and eyes. "Hi and welcome, how can I help you?"

"I'm Shiemi's friend… here for that lunch?"

"Oh, right. Rin and Yukio arrived a few minutes ago, they're in the kitchen. Go on through."

_I thought this was a quiet lunch… _Tempus thought subtly. _I hope Shima doesn't show up… or do I?_

"Owari-chan!"

_No, he's defiantly here. That stupid, idiotic, cute, cocky smile…_

Shima jumped in front of Tempus and smiled brightly. "Here for lunch too?"

"Yeah," Tempus said, as brightly as she could manage. "Are we all here today?"

"Well, Shiemi did invite us all," Suguro sighed. "Must be a celebration for our success on the mission. She does things like this for us, I think it's sweet."

_I'm sure Amaimon would like it too… if he could show up._ "So, where's this kitchen?"

"In here!" Shiemi's high voice rang out. "There's tea in here if you want some!"

* * *

Kamiki had shown up with Paku about an hour after that. As they all joked, laughed, insulted each other, Tempus didn't feel anything. Every now and then, a bolt would shoot through her, like lightning. A bolt of emotions, ones that fit the situation perfectly. Laughter bubbled up inside her and died down just as quickly. Happiness, peace and humour.

"So, Tempus," Rin asked suddenly. "You've been pretty quiet this whole time."

"Yeah," Shima added. "Tell us about yourself."

"Like what?" Tempus asked.

"Why become an exorcist?" Rin asked. "Did something happen to your family?"

_Crap… Umm…_ "My family… well, my ancestors on my father's side were exorcists, but the 'tradition' died out. So I'd thought I'd start it up again. They were against the idea, my mother especially. Dad and my brother were pretty supportive though and so I ended up here at True Cross."

"Your brother?" Kamiki asked.

"He's in boarding school. He chose not to be an exorcist."

"So, what does he do?" Shiemi asked, pouring more tea.

"He's studying to be a doctor." _If I'm going to be honest, the King of Earth is good at healing himself and serious types of wounds. Doesn't often heal others, but he'll heal me if he wanted. I heal quickly anyway._

"Hey!" Rin jumped up. "Yukio wants to be a doctor too! Maybe you and him can meet up at some point!"

"I don't think that'd be a good idea," Tempus said extremely quickly. Maybe too quickly. "He doesn't speak Japanese."

"Ah, right. But you speak Japanese really well," Rin objected.

"I studied various languages in school before coming here. Consider me a 'rebellious child'." That much was true, Tempus had a _lot_ of spare time on her hands and her father had collected a _lot_ of books in his thousands of years of existence. Reading was a good pastime for Tempus. "And when I come out saying that I want to go to True Cross Academy, Japan, they flipped out – or well, my mum did. My father and brother were pretty chilled."

_All matches up. But Yukio can probably see through it and maybe Suguro._ Tempus looked over at Suguro, who had that same expression on his face. She remembered he had a tendency to glare a lot, even if he didn't mean to. "So," he said. "Your brother and dad were okay with your desire to be an exorcist. Any kind of class you want to be? Like, are you a good tamer, shooter, healer, etcetera?"

"If you want an honest answer, I'll have to say… I'm not sure."

"So you became an Exwire for the hell of it?"

Tempus shrugged. "Well…"

"Why… not a tamer?" Yukio asked.

Tempus' eyes flashed to him and her stare hardened. "Why would you say that…?"

"You seem to have a good eyes for demonic behaviour. Why don't I have Neuhaus summon a Naberius?"

Tempus snickered and glared at him in a way only he could notice. "You bring one of those in front me, I'll probably make sure it stays in Gehenna, or ends up burning in a fire."

"Ooh snap," Shima laughed. "You just got _owned._"

"You know, there's a flower that can withstand any flame, but it's only found in the deepest, darkest places." Shiemi smiled. "I don't remember the name though… I'll tell you when I remember."

"When you say any flame," Konekomaru whispered. "Does that include Satan's flame?"

Rin eyed him and Shiemi nodded. "Yes, it does."

"Could it protect a person?"

"Well… perhaps if you covered yourself in the flowers, it might… but any crack in the armour would hurt; it isn't a shield."

Tempus stood up. "Where's the restroom?"

"Down the hall on the right."

"Thanks."

Tempus had heard of the flower, she had even seen the flower. The same colour of the flame, beautiful in every way possible. The stem and leaves of the flower where white like snow, surprisingly. If one didn't know any better, they would appear to be dead. Satan had taken her to see them once in the garden she had burned to the ground during a temper-tantrum. Only those flowers had survived.

"_One day, you will bloom to become like these flowers, Tempus. Your name means 'Time' in Latin. Like this flower sitting before you, you will be frozen in time and will remain beautiful while everything around you burns. Assiah might be yours one day._"

"_Might?_"

He had smiled. "_Some things are hard to reach out to, Tempus. Remember that when I fail, when I die, you will achieve what I could not._"

_Seize Assiah and make it your own. You fail in your task, but you didn't die, Father. I will achieve it for you, with human blood or not._ Tempus walked into the bathroom and splashed water on her face. _That one thing. Assiah. Such a place to control. Human souls to devour – if I could ever do that… It may be sick, but it's what demons do. If exorcists could see this… maybe I wouldn't have to burn them all…_

Tempus might have gotten lost inside of the house, but she found everyone messing around in the garden, apparently looking for a seedling Shiemi had planet (she'd forgotten where she'd planted the tiny thing).

"It should be sprouting by now. I found the little baby in my grandmother's pillow."

"That's… kind of weird," Shima muttered, walking over to where Tempus was admiring a nice sunflower. "You know, yellow wouldn't suit you very well. Red or purple might. Black, even."

"Black is too dead for my liking," Tempus said. "I prefer white."

"White makes you look like a snowflake. Speaking of which, winter's almost here and the seasonal dance that the school holds is coming up in about two months." Shima went down on his knees to her level. "So, I was thinking… well, hoping, that we could go somewhere before that… so I can figure out what your favourite colour is."

Smiling, Tempus gently pulled a sunflower, violet, red rose and a black rose from the garden. "Take your pick. I can put them back when you guess wrong, but they probably won't live. I'm no good with plants."

"Hmm… you said black is too dead, so it can't be black." He pulled the rose from her fingers and planet it into the ground again. "Red is vibrant, but you look evil with it surrounding you. So, no." The red rose was back in the damp earth. "Yellow… well, honestly, it makes you look like pee."

"Is that an insult?"

"It's honesty." He smiled brightly. "So… violet is your favourite colour!"

"You're good. But what about the sky?"

"Everything about you is blue, Tempus. You're mostly white but those eyes of yours. Man, they're the same colour as the flame. I remember seeing a picture of the flower Shiemi told us about. The petals are the same colour as your eyes… so can I call them petals?"

"You're going to call my eyeballs 'petals'?"

"Pretty much."

Tempus laughed and covered her mouth when she began to snort. Shima's smile grew when he laughed too. "Well, um… you said you wanted to go somewhere?"

"The beach, maybe? It's still hot enough. Just… the two of us?" Tempus glanced up and stared into his gorgeous eyes. "We can bring everyone else… but… you know…" Shima _blushed. _"I've never actually done this before."

"Shima…" Tempus smiled and glanced at Kamiki who was eyeing them with curiosity. "Yeah… let's go to the beach with everyone."

His smile grew wider. "Next weekend?"

"Next weekend."

"Sweet!" Shima bounced up and was gone. Kamiki, seeing her chance, stormed over.

"What's he so happy about?" she demanded, the crease in her brow growing bigger.

"I… think I just got a date."

"Well then…" Kamiki glanced around. "You, Shiemi, Paku and I are going shopping."

"Why?" Tempus asked.

"Quite obviously you have no guy skills. So, we're taking you shopping. Tomorrow, since it's Sunday."

"I don't… know… how to shop…"

Kamiki began to laugh. "Well, I'm in a worse situation than I thought. Hey, Shiemi!"

"Yeah?"

"Get your yen together. We're going shopping tomorrow!"

* * *

_A nice and short chapter for today!_

_Hehe... hee-hee... yep, there's a Tempus x Shima happening... (I'm guessing it's OC x Shima?) I'm working on Chapter Eight and it will be up as soon as possible. Until next time!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


	8. Blue Flicker & Broken Wounds

_So I've been home for a little while, but I've been suffering from jetlag, school's back (already) and I've been suffering from Writer's Block..._

_DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUUN_

_But I am back with a new chapter for you! Next will be up tomorrow or Sunday, depending on what I'm doing and if I feel motivated enough..._

_So here you are! Enjoy!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**~ Blue Flicker and Broken Wounds ~**

For Tempus, the words 'normal living' contradicted into 'boring'. The only thing she considered entertaining was watching Rin fumble around during their gym class in the Cram School. He was strong, Tempus could give him that, but it was his technique… he had some skill with a sword, little control over his flame and how he conjured it was impossible to detect. It almost made her cry when he tripped and fire simply burst around him. Everyone else seemed to be cautious about it. "I'm always scared," Konekomaru whispered.

"Don't be; he'd never hurt us," Shiemi said.

"But that one time–"

"It was a fluke," Kamiki said instantly. "Rin was angry and uncontrollable. He would never slip up again."

Tempus glanced at Konekomaru; he was sweating. She walked over to the small boy and leant over the bars, lowering herself to eye-level. "What happened, exactly?"

"You don't know?"

"I know what happened… just not from your view."

He looked back down at Rin, who had sheathed his sword and was regaining his stamina. "It was… terrifying," he finally whispered. "He didn't recognize us at all. Rin wasn't there, it wasn't him; just some monster who wanted to kill us all… I was afraid."

"I don't blame you. I would have been scared too."

"You don't know what it's like… he was gone. Our friend was gone."

_Oh, I know what it's like_, she thought, thinking back to Yukio's face when he'd seen her. _Had I really been that terrifying? Then again… they wouldn't understand. Rin said it had taken them days to get over what'd happened… they didn't trust, nor did they accept him. So what makes me think they'll accept me if they knew who I am? What I am…?_

"Tempus, you're up!"

She glanced down at the giant ugly toad. The challenge of the day was to stare right into its eyes without faltering or showing any weakness, or just fight it. _I wonder if the demon can see into my soul like they say?_

"Good luck down there," Rin said. "You done this before?"

"No." _Many times, though I normally kill them…_

"Do you want me close by?" he asked. "I mean, if you're nervous, but you seemed okay when the Naberius was around…"

"If you want," Tempus said and Rin followed her down anyway. Tempus paused slightly. Something in the air didn't feel right. Something was wrong… _What is this feeling?_

"You alright…?" Rin asked. "You don't have to–"

"I'm fine." _What the hell…?_

The toad looked over at her and waited for Tempus. She slowly approached the ugly thing and it blinked once. _You… killed my brothers and sisters…_

_And you care why? We don't feel anything, toad._

The toad approached Tempus. _You wish you didn't, but you do. You block them all away and when you feel something, you block it away. How badly do you want to be a full-blooded demon, hm? You think rejecting emotion is going to get you anywhere? Do you honestly think that by doing so, we will accept you?_

Tempus blinked. _What are you saying?_

_Murdering demons gets you nowhere. You have power over us, but you don't know, you can't feel what we feel. I hate you, we hate you. You hate yourself._

Her steely façade faltered and it attacked. The toad leapt forward and Tempus couldn't move. She was _afraid._ "Tempus!" Rin screamed and dashed forward, unsheathing his sword and swinging it at the toad. It backed away with fright and glared down at Tempus, who was sitting on the floor, shaking. _Shaking._ How was she so scared?

She'd known they'd hated her; that's all they did was hate anything that could overpower them. They sucked up to her father because he would destroy them if they disobeyed his command. They followed her orders because she would do the same. It's how she was raised. Now, sitting here, powerless, scared her. She didn't want to feel anything because this is what it did. It made her weak. Feeling this made her weak. _I don't want to be weak. I won't be weak. I am not weak, I am not afraid._

"Owari-chan!" Hands helped her stand. "Are you alright?"

Tempus' eyes focused on Shima's face. "I… I…"

Fingers on her throat. Testing her pulse. "Well, you're not about to have a heart attack, if that's what you're worried about," Yukio chuckled. "What happened?"

"I don't… know…" She glanced around. Everyone was surrounding her. It was so embarrassing. That feeling from before; it was gone. Whatever had been here before, if anything, was gone. "I thought I was fine and then…"

"You heard it, right?" Rin asked. "The toad. It talks to its target by… telethapy?"

"Yeah. Mind-reading," Suguro muttered. "What did it say?"

Tempus glanced back at the toad. It wasn't staring hatefully into her now. It was just as they should be. Thoughtless. It hadn't been the toad talking to her, Tempus realised. It had been something else. Something was trying to weaken her. And it ticked her off.

"I'll take you to the infirmary. Come on." Yukio and Rin guided her out of the gymnasium and through a door into the infirmary. "These keys work a dream, don't they?"

"They do… Tempus, what happened?" Rin asked suddenly, much more serious. "You seemed fine and then the thing jumped you."

_I have to lie. _"I… I don't know… what it was saying to me… it threw me off… that's what they do."

"Rin, go wait outside."

"Why?"

"Just do it. I need to talk with Tempus alone, if you don't mind."

"Whatever, I'll be outside."

When he closed the door, Yukio spun around to face Tempus, who must've still looked terrified. "Tempus, what happened?"

"It said I was weak."

"And?"

"It's not that, Yukio. I've heard that speech from them hundreds of times. But this one was different… it wasn't the toad talking to me. It was… something else."

"Something else?"

"A demon, I think…"

"You _think?_"

"I've never met a demon that's said I hated myself and shook me to my core!" Tempus shouted. Yukio stepped back. "When it said I refused to feel anything… it was right. But its voice was… what scared me. It was a demon, I'm sure, but not a normal demon…"

"Demons are normal?"

"Well, Rin's normal enough, isn't he?"

Yukio shrugged and glanced around. "So I wasn't the only one who… could sense it?"

"The dark, menacing presence? No, you weren't. Ask Rin, he'll probably agree." Tempus tapped her head. "This baby can sense anything and tells me I need to teach Rin some skills."

"Shura is doing her job and he's getting better."

"Not fast enough."

"And you took how long?"

"A couple of years. How's he doing with the candles?"

"Still practicing… you mean with his sword? Shura's teaching him."

"Uh-huh, how's that working for him?"

"He's stubborn…"

"I noticed a little charm on the end of his tail. What's that all about?"

"If he slips up, that charm subdues him. It knocks him out."

"Great progress you're making there. Knocking him out if he slips up." Tempus shook her head. "Anyway… this thing… can you ask Mephisto about it?"

"Sure. Well, you're free to go. By the way, that beach date you were planning with Shima, when's that on?"

"This weekend."

"We'll all be there."

"Cool. See you."

"Goodbye…"

* * *

Tempus had been sleeping when her phone began to ring loudly. Kamiki groaned and Paku stirred slightly. Groggily, Tempus answered to hear a panicked Amaimon on the other side of the line.

Panicked?

"Tempus! Did I wake you? I-I'm sorry but–" there was a hacking sound. Coughing. Tempus was instantly wide awake. Amaimon tried to speak but the coughing began again. "_Help_…"

Tempus was already gone. She bolted outside and sprinted towards Mephisto's office, wearing her summer pajamas and a thin dressing gown. Her feet were bare and the gravel on the path hurt her feet, but the carpet that soon arrived soothed the pain. She burst into Mephisto's office to find him wearing the most ridiculous clothing and dressing gown. "Tempus! This is unexpected."

"Amaimon called me."

"What? He's sleeping up here…" Mephisto glanced up at the roof to find it was empty. "Or not…"

They both took off into the stupid pink limo towards the shopping district of True Cross. There, Tempus called her brother again to get a hacking reply. "_Amaimon, where are you?_"

"Alley," he gasped. "Shopping…"

"We're in the right place," Tempus muttered and got out of the car before it stopped. Most of the stores were closed, pawn shops and restaurants were the only places opened. A few people gaze Tempus strange looks when she asked about a young man walking around in funny clothing, but they pointed her towards a small alleyway. She crossed into there and found him cowering in a corner, shaking and _terrified._

"Tempus–" Amaimon was cut off by his horrible coughing.

"What happened? There's…" Tempus' hand was covered in a sticky red pool of blood. "There's blood everywhere…"

Slowly, Amaimon removed his arms away from his abdomen and chest, where a stab wound, various cuts and burns covered his body. "Okumura…" he whimpered. "He… just… found me…"

"Rin?"

"The other one…" Amaimon resumed his horrible hacking sounds. "I wasn't… doing anything… to hurt anyone…"

At first, there was never really anything to feel. Then it was sudden; the fury and outrage. Uncontrollable rage. "I'm going to kill him."

"Don't!" he coughed. Blood squirted from his lips.

"Your body is _dying_, Amaimon! How can I not… oh… this is about Shiemi? You went to see her?"

"No… but… if he gets hurt… Shiemi will be… upset."

_I need to get him to Mephisto… _

"Can you move?" Tempus asked softly, moving Amaimon. He groaned in pain when lifted to his feet. He was losing too much blood. "Damn…" She had Mephisto on the phone within seconds.

"You found him?"

"He says Yukio attacked him."

"Really? How surprising… Well let's get him home!"

* * *

He was resting when Yukio walked into the room. "Mephisto called me over?"

Tempus was instantly by the curtain hiding her brother. "You aren't going _anywhere near him._"

"What?"

"My brother is–" Mephisto cut her off.

"May I remind you that it _is_ two in the morning and that the person behind that curtain claims he was attacked by you, Yukio? With the Kurikara in your possession."

"What?" The shock on his face was unbelievable. It was like he actually thought that… that they were joking. "I can't use the Kurikara; the flame doesn't work like that… Rin sleeps with it on his bedside! He'd know if it was gone!"

"Yukio. What is that… on your shirt?"

Slowly, Yukio moved his hands away from the dark red stain on his shirt. Blood. "I… I don't know! I swear I don't know!"

Tempus had already moved towards him. "I should kill you right now for what you've done! He's in there dying, burning, and you… you act like you didn't do it!"

"You're covered in blood too!" Yukio shot back. "I didn't do this!"

"Yukio," a new voice murmured. Rin stood in the doorway, rubbing his right eye. "I woke up and you were gone. What happened? Why is my sword… covered in blood, too? Yukio, what happened? And why… why is Tempus covered in blood too?"

She glared at Yukio, then glared at Rin. "So you're telling the truth…"

"Yes! I've been telling you the truth the whole time! I don't know how this happened!"

"Moving away from the blaming game, can we focus on the guest behind the curtain? He requires immediate medical attention and I can't take him to the local hospital – there were no fires called and a serious case of attempted murder would frighten the public. So I ask you, the suspected assassin, to heal the boy dying behind that curtain."

"Who's behind the curtain?"

"Go back to your room, Rin. You have no business here."

"I have every right to be here!" Rin shouted angrily, facing Mephisto. "My sword is covered with blood, Yukio's covered with the same blood and so is Tempus. So show me who is behind that curtain!"

"You won't like it," Tempus murmured moved to protect the curtain. "At all."

"What, is the body all cut up? Burnt?"

"Both."

Yukio was frozen, processing the information in his head. "I… could have done this."

"No one else could have." Tempus snarled. "You try anything else and I will end you."

Rin tensed. The edge of Tempus' voice must have thrown him off. "You've never said anything like that before. Whatever's behind there; you care about it."

"_I'm… not… an… it_."

Rin froze, taking on the same stance as his brother. "That couldn't be…"

He shoved – more-or-less threw – Tempus out of the way. When he saw who was lying there, bleeding, dying, he cursed. "_Why is he here? Why the hell is he here?_"

Mephisto moved to Amaimon and spoke for Tempus. "I'm not interested in playing games. That sword is covered in that boy's blood and I want to make sure that he remains alive."

"You're keeping him alive? Why?"

"If the body dies, so does the boy."

Rin blinked and Yukio raised his head. It seemed to bring him back to his senses. "You want me not to save him, but instead the soul?"

"Unlike you, I consider the people of True Cross. The Vatican would probably have my head if they found out about this, but I prefer to keep as many people alive before the 'end'." Mephisto made finger quotes. "Rin. Get out. Yukio and Tempus have some matters to discuss alone. Go on, out."

Rin shot one more look back at the broken body lying on the gurney and stormed out. "Fine. I'm going to clean the sword. I will see you tomorrow."

The moment the door closed, Tempus felt her temper explode. "I don't let my emotions get the better of me, but I'm not interested in hiding how disgusted I am with you. I hate you so much! Why would you attack him?"

"I don't remember attacking anyone! Even if Amaimon is my enemy, I wouldn't attack him unless he provoked me!"

"Screw that. Your clothes are stained with his blood!"

"That is not your brother!"

"Amaimon _is_ my brother! He possessed a body, the soul can't fight back. You'd rather see his true form? Be my guest; you'll have nightmares for weeks. Or would you rather save him _and_ the boy from dying?"

Yukio was sweating. "I can't… I don't…"

"You're a future doctor. Some real experience would do you good."

Yukio took the first aid kit and walked through the curtain. Seeing the dying body on the gurney, he gagged. "I… did… this?"

Amaimon's eyes lit up with fear. "_Why…?_"

Tempus remained still while Mephisto moved the gurney towards Yukio. "The body has third-degree burns, several lacerations to the abdomen, wrists and thighs and two broken knees. I've already called the finest surgeons in the city to assist us, but they won't be here for another couple of hours. Tempus and I don't know how to perform First Aid, so it's up to you."

"Why me?"

"No one else can," Mephisto said. "Hop to it."

Yukio opened the first aid kit. "I need to take care of the bleeding. Amaimon, can you hear me?"

"_Shut… up…_"

Well... it was a start.

Yukio began to wrap the bandages around each cut, slowly covering the wound. Amaimon's clothes had been torn to shreds; all that was left were his underpants. Yukio lifted Amaimon slightly with his right hand, feeding the bandage through until he could repeat the process. Next were the burns. Using burn gel, Yukio spread it across the burnt areas of his body. Amaimon sighed with obvious relief. His breathing was still an issue.

"Wouldn't his wounds heal on their own?" Yukio asked suddenly. Tempus nodded. "I don't know why they won't… even the flame doesn't cause permanent damage to a body… unless they were completely human, the burns wouldn't kill unless they were meant to… in this case… they were meant to kill."

Amaimon gasped and began to breathe normally. "You said… something…"

"What?"

His breathing began to calm. "You said… 'let me go'…"

Yukio froze and lifted his head ever so slightly. He quickly went back to tending Amaimon's wounds and ignored him completely. "I don't remember doing any of that."

"Really?" Amaimon growled. "I remember."

A few moments later, he fell unconscious. Yukio checked his breathing – it was normal. "I've done everything I can to help him. I'm sure he'll live with a real doctor's help… Tempus?"

She didn't move. "… What?" Her voice was barely audible.

"If… If this happens to me again, or happens to anyone again… I want you to put me into a coma."

She turned her head slightly to stare at Yukio. She saw his eyes widen; her face was covered with sparkling tears. "Don't _ever_ say that to me. What you've done wasn't your fault… it was something else completely."

"Then what was it?"

Tempus wiped her cheeks with a tissue provided by Mephisto. "I don't know. But it isn't human… or demon… I don't know what _it_ is."

"How about your father? He's possessed me once before."

Her gaze hardened. "He wouldn't possess Amaimon."

"An angel, perhaps?"

"What? Don't you know the rules? Angels can't – or the word refuse is more accurate – possess human bodies. Animals, yes, they'll 'replace the soul' with their own. If they wanted to come to Assiah, they would have to Fall. Nine days and nine nights of falling doesn't suit their kind very well. That's why we never see the Fallen."

"You know these… why?"

"I read a book or five." Tempus shook her head. "I won't hurt any of you… unless you try to kill me. Then, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"I understand."

"Rin, you can come back inside now!" Mephisto called. He stormed inside again, seething.

"No one can know about what happened tonight. Got it?"

"Since when are we open about what happens here, anyway?" Rin asked. "I won't tell a soul about this. Geez, I don't need to be told twice about it. Amaimon's burning up, there might be something wondering around True Cross. Happy fun times…"

Tempus nodded and turned. Her eyes were completely dry again. "So. Beach on Sunday, right?"

"Right. Hey, are you and Shima a thing now?"

"A thing? Whoever said anything about a thing between me and Shima?"

Rin smiled, a mischievous smile that Tempus didn't like. "I'll make sure we all have the best time on Sunday."

"I'm a little nervous now… why are you smiling like that?"

"I think you all need to get back to bed," Mephisto muttered. "Go on, I need to make an important phone call."

It was nearing four in the morning when Tempus got back to her room. Instead of going back to bed and sleeping, she held a simple bath towel and a clean dressing gown in her hands. She filled the bath up with hot water and climbed in, simply floating, not washing the blood from her hands. As she floated there, suspended in the water, Tempus submerged herself, hiding the tears which had begun to fall from her eyes.

_The toad was right… I do hate myself…_

* * *

_Oooh snap, serious stuff is goin' dooown... Tempus has feels, omigod!_

_Yes, it's a big surprise. But next up, the beach is involved!_

_As usual, constructive and positive criticism is very welcome blah, blah, blah... Have a nice day/evening/night/morning everyone!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


	9. Blue Flicker & Summer Days

_Now that I have some free time, I want to say THANK YOU for the awesome reviews (though there are eight, they are still amazing!) And to match, here is Chapter Eight!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

**~ Blue Flicker and Summer Days ~**

"Kamiki, are you sure this… kind of clothing… is suitable for today?"

"It's almost the end of summer; we're making the most of it. And you didn't buy that bikini so you wouldn't wear it. And if Shima's serious about you, he won't be a complete pervert and attempt to flirt with you with every chance he gets." Kamiki walked into their bedroom, wearing her purple bikini and cute denim shorts and a loose-fitting shirt. "How do I look?"

"Awesome. What about me?"

"The bikini you chose last week is perfect. And you even got a matching skirt and top!"

Tempus had found the small white sarong and crop-top in the bargain bin where she'd bought three more sarongs. They were pretty things… complimented her hourglass figure. "So, we going to Shiemi's?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

Unlocking the door to Shiemi's, the two walked into her room, where Shiemi was admiring her figure in the mirror. She wore a green, blue and pink bikini, matched with a pair of green board shorts and a white shirt. "Why do we have to dress up?"

"We're not dressing up," Kamiki insisted and fluffed up Tempus' hair. "We're preparing for the attention."

"I don't dress to impress," Tempus muttered, flattening her hair again. It was the first time she'd worn it down since being in Assiah. "It feels weird having my hair down again, it was always too hot until now." She wrapped a hair-tie around her wrist just in case. Her necklace sat evenly on her chest, rising up and down with her breathing.

_For some reason… I'm really looking forward to this…_

* * *

It took a half-hour drive to get to the beach. Tempus, Kamiki, Shiemi, Rin and Yukio had taken the subway… Yukio had replaced his usual bland, black glasses strange goggles on that were like his glasses… so he'd be able to see clearly. It baffled Tempus that he and Konekomaru had terrible eyesight, mostly because Tempus had never had any difficulty with anything to do with her health.

From what she'd gathered, Rin hadn't either. Benefit of being Satan's child apparently.

"We're here! Everyone out before Shura gets here!"

"Shura?"

"Big-boob lady," Kamiki said simply. "Disguised herself as a student before we met her and then later became Rin's teacher… gave Yukio his nickname–"

"Scaredy Four-Eyes!" a high, happy voice called. A tall woman ran towards them, wearing nothing but a tiny itty-bitty bikini and holding a bright orange towel and sunglasses. "I knew you'd be here!"

"She found us," Yukio gasped. "Damn it… I was so careful…"

"No, Rin told me at his training session Shima and Owari-chan had organized a trip to the beach today. So here I am!" She winked and glanced over at Tempus, smiling. "Nice to meet ya."

"Likewise." That red hair… she must have been the same woman Tempus had crashed into on her first day. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"'Fraid not, honey. I'm just Rin's teacher and all. And also–" Shura leaned in to whisper in Tempus' ear "– I know all about you, Satan's daughter."

"Glad you know," Tempus muttered, frowning. She hadn't expected Mephisto to tell her… the tattoo-like mark on Shura's chest could only mean she had a sword hidden there in-between those E-cup boulders. She waited patiently for a death threat, but nothing was dished out, which relieved Tempus slightly.

"Where are the Three Musketeers?" Kamiki asked. "Shima would never let the opportunity to see a girl in a bikini slide. Rin, you know where they are?"

"Nope. Maybe they're getting some lunch?"

"It's only eleven, we still have an hour of swimming to do."

"There you all are!" Suguro shouted from across the road. "We were waiting for half an hour! Konekomaru and Shima went to get some hotdogs. Shima wanted to know if you ate onion, Tempus."

"Sure."

"Reminds me, he doesn't stop wondering what kind of food you like. I think he's going to give you some chocolate… are you two a thing or something?"

"I'm… not sure yet…" Tempus stammered, blushing slightly. _Why am I blushing?_

Everyone rolled their eyes and glanced over the road to see Konekomaru and Shima avoiding the increasing traffic, carrying several hot dogs and ice-cream. "Okay. Who wants tomato sauce?" Konekomaru asked, holding up an entire bottle of tomato sauce. "I knew that some of you had to have some. So, dig in!"

The day progressed along slowly. The sun beat down on everyone and the waters were crystal-clear. The boys found that tackling each other was a fun task, though Yukio avoided the game. Not bothering with hiding his tail, Rin flicked it about, splashing everyone and laughing when Kamiki got angry and splashed him. She didn't want her hair to get wet. Tempus was hesitant to get into the water at first; the sudden chill shocked her. After all, Tempus had never seen the ocean before. The vast blue world spreading out before her shook her. But she was curious. Such a huge blue place and not even half of it had been explored.

_I thought humans knew everything about their world, like demons know everything about Gehenna. I guess I was wrong._

It had taken the drastic measures of Rin and Shima picking Tempus up and throwing her into the water. Rin and grabbed her ankles, Shima had grabbed her wrist. They sang a funny song and literally _threw_ Tempus into the ocean. It was cold at first, before she got used to the temperature. Kamiki and Rin decided it would be fun to challenge Shima and Tempus to a game of piggy-back wrestling. Kamiki sat on Rin's shoulders and Tempus was forced to sit on Shima's shoulders.

Tempus' stomach had felt strange. She'd never felt the light, fluttering feeling she felt in her stomach then. Shima held tightly to her kneecaps, making sure she didn't fall. "You weigh absolutely nothing," he exclaimed, glancing up to look at Tempus.

"Thank you?"

Shima chuckled. "You're welcome!"

"Hey! We're charging!" Rin called and bolted through the water, holding onto Kamiki while she struggled to balance. Tempus braced herself when Shima began to run towards them. When the two collided, Kamiki and Tempus held onto each other's elbows, trying to wrestle each other down to the water. Tempus lost and fell into the water, taking Shima down with her. Her hair appeared in front of her face and Tempus moved it all back, shocked with how much weight it seemed to gain once it was completely soaked.

Shima parted her hair and laughed. "You look like a dork with your hair like that."

"You don't know what it's like having hair like this."

"Looks heavy."

"It is."

With a brief flick of his wrist, Shima flicked Tempus' hair back and smiled. "There. Now you can see properly."

"Yep. Pretty much."

"You wanna challenge us again?" Rin shouted, fisting the air and laughing. "Come on! We'll let you win!"

"You liar, Okumura-kun!" Shima shouted, laughing. He turned back to Tempus. "You wanna grab an ice-cream?"

"Sure." _I wonder what they taste like…_

Tempus wrapped her little sarong around her waist and followed Shima up to the hotdog stand. He handed her a couple of yen, and pointed to the sign. "Owari-chan, which one do you want?"

"Um…" Tempus read some of the names. Vanilla, chocolate-chip, strawberry, banana and mint. Mint sounded interesting. "Mint."

"Sweet." He glanced at the girl behind the counter and smiled. "One vanilla and mint, please."

"Sure thing. You two on a date?" The way the girl asked it made Tempus feel strange. _A date… yeah. It's a date._

"Mm-hm. First one," Tempus said, smiling as sweetly as she could manage. Shima's eyes widened slightly and in response, he tied his fingers around hers and grasped her hand gently.

"Daww," the girl giggled. "You two are cute already! Here, on the house."

"Thanks," Shima said and they grabbed their ice-creams before turning and walking away down to their beach towels. Tempus sat down and Shima sat beside her. "So. Owari-chan. Tell me about yourself. Like, you dreams and ambitions and stuff."

"I already have. My parents are protective, my brother is humorous and–"

"No, not about your family. I want to know about _you_, Owari-chan."

"Me… well… I'm a boring person, Shima-san. My ambitions are average. To be a successful exorcist… that's all really…"

"Something personal then. A secret!"

"Can I trust you with a secret?"

"Of course!" Shima laughed. "Come on, tell me."

Tempus lifted her head and blushed. "This is the first time I've eaten ice-cream, seen the ocean and gone on a date."

"What kind of a childhood did you have?"

"A lonely one, I guess. Now tell me something about you."

"My older brother is the lead singer in a band and likes to beat my backside into the dirt. My hair is naturally brown."

"Why'd you dye it pink, then?"

"Looks better, I thought. What do you think?"

"I think it looks… cute."

Shima's cheeks turned pink and Tempus smiled. "T-Thanks…"

* * *

That night, Tempus stood at the door of Mephisto's office, preparing to knock when it once again opened for her. Yukio was already inside, tending to Amaimon who was awake and sitting up. His wounds had begun to heal, though at the pace of a human. He couldn't sit up without the bed moving up for him.

"So your wounds are healing well, though not at the pace you're used to," Yukio was saying, renewing his bandages.

Amaimon remained silent. It didn't look like he'd been sleeping at all. "Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"Why wouldn't I be thanking my doctor, Mr. Okumura?"

"A look of confusion swept over Yukio's face. "Amaimon. You're furious with me, I get it."

"Not just furious. Confused. I would have expected Rin to be attacking me… if I provoked him. But you, you would have stepped in to protect him. You wouldn't have attacked me out of nowhere, Yukio." Puzzlement came over his face, but he shook his head and looked up to Tempus. "Evening…"

"I see you're alive. At least your host body is."

"Yep. Wouldn't want another to die on me."

Yukio lowered Amaimon's pale blue shirt and walked away. "Well, he's doing well. Sure to heal up in a few weeks and he'll be up and walking. I'm off to bed… so, goodnight."

"Goodnight…"

Mephisto was out, which gave Tempus and her brother a moment to talk. When Yukio had shut the door, Amaimon stared at Tempus with a curious look in his eyes. "You had gun today, I'm guessing? You're all sunburnt."

Tempus glanced down at her skin; it was red. "Wow… I guess I did."

He chuckled. "Have fun with your boyfriend today?"

"Huh? Boyfriend…?"

"Renzo Shima. I broke his ribs?"

"Oh, yeah. Um… we had… a good time, I guess."

"Come on. What happened? I'm interested!"

"You're interested in my love life?"

"You've never had a boyfriend before. I'm making sure he won't leave you broken."

"Amaimon, I don't feel very much."

"I'll break his ribs if he hurts you."

"You've already done that. And you broke Konekomaru's arm, _and_ strangled Suguro."

"… So?"

Tempus laughed. "If you wanna win Shiemi's heart, they'll be no eye-poking this time."

"Aww… I thought she liked that."

"No, Amaimon, she was infected by your fun-filled moth demon parasite… thingy."

"Right… I forgot about that."

She laughed and kissed her brother's forehead. "You get better soon, okay?"

"Okay. Night, little sister."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Tempus was dreaming for the first time in… her life (wow) when a slight noise at her window woke her. Tempus sat up slowly and drowsily gazed out the window. On the ground, a boy was running down the fire escape and sprinting into the forest. Tempus rubbed her eyes and opened the window, quietly climbing out, making sure not to wake Paku or Kamiki.

She followed the figure through the forest until they came to a clearing. By this point, she was wide awake and knew precisely who it was.

"Rin," she exhaled. "What are you doing?"

"Hm? Oh… I just wanted to talk."

His stance was far too relaxed to even match Rin's ready-to-go attitude. Tempus stiffened slightly, but he noticed.

"What is it? You raring for a fight?"

"It depends," Tempus hissed. "On whether it's really Rin I'm speaking to."

His smile disappeared. "Damn. You're a quick one, aren't you? I would've thought you'd be like Rin. All bark and no bite."

"I'm not Rin. And neither are you, it seems."

A sneer crawled up his face and he unsheathed his sword. "Well then, I won't have to go easy on you, will I?"

He sprang towards her and swung the sword around, cutting through Tempus' back. She gasped and leapt away, removing her necklace. Not-Rin's eyes widened in surprise. "Removing your necklace without hesitation? That's a little too rash, isn't it?"

"Self-defense doesn't require rationality," Tempus eyes narrowed and she smiled. "Come at me."

He charged towards her and brought the sword down. Tempus caught the blade with her hands and flicked it back, flicking her body around so she was able to kick him into a nearby tree. The demon grunted and came towards her again, grunting when Tempus burnt his arm upon grabbing it. She sneered and flicked her finger, moving the flames up Rin's arm. His eyes widened. "You're not hesitating to hurt Rin."

"This isn't even a scratch compared to what I can do to you. Let him go."

His sneer grew, but he shrugged. "Fine then. See what happens."

A millisecond later, Rin's eyes seemed to shift slightly and his expression changed from weariness to fear when he saw Tempus holding onto his arm. "T-T-Tempus? What are you… Where am I…"

His face contorted with pain and sank to his knees. "Let me go!"

Tempus released his arm and gazed down at him with caution. "You don't remember anything…?"

"No! I woke up and we were here and you… you…" his head snapped up to her. "You're… burning… Am I doing that? Are you… Are you possessed?"

She smirked. "No. I'm not burning, and I'm not possessed."

She lowered the necklace over her neck and the exhilaration left her body slowly. "I… I'm… like you, Rin. I'm Satan's daughter."

He stood up slowly and looked down at his arm; the wound has healing steadily. "Are you… kidding me…?"

"No. I'm dead serious. And I didn't drag you here in your sleep. You came to my window and led me here before attacking me."

Rin peered down to her lower back, where blood and burning skin could be seen through the tear in her nightgown. "Oh, God… Like… Yukio…"

"Yes."

"That won't heal normally, you need to–"

"I don't want my brother seeing me in this state."

"Your… brother… That's why you were so worried about Amaimon! He's your brother!"

"Half-brother, really. And when you think about it… so are you."

* * *

_So yeah. Now Rin knows that Tempus is no different to him (besides the obvious fact she's a girl and has lived in Gehenna her whole life...) I'm still writing Chapter Nine, but it will be up as soon as possible, otay? Otay! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed yourselves and have a lovely day/night/morning/evening._

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


	10. Blue Flicker & The Feather

_Wow, it's been too long! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while; school is a pain and a competition I'm entered in has slowed down my writing progress quite a bit... but here it is, and Chapter Ten is still a work in progress. So I hope you enjoy!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**~ Blue Flicker and the Feather ~**

Another week had passed. Suddenly it was too cold to wear singlets and shorts. Jeans and light coats were all the more fashionable. Tempus found that she enjoyed furry coats more than hoodies. Rin was more curious about why their father hadn't told him about Tempus before. When Tempus wasn't with Amaimon or doing homework or having small lunch dates with Shima, she would spend with Rin and Yukio if he wanted to join in, which was often rare.

Today, Tempus sat with Rin at a local café, eating some delicious brownies. He munched on some chips while he spoke. "Tempus, I'm curious. You've lived there your whole life… did you…"

"No, I didn't. I can't – it's impossible."

"Why's that? You're more… demonic, than I am."

Of course, no one paid attention to their chat.

"Rin, it's not like that. I had a human mother too, you know."

"What… happened to her?"

"She died giving birth to me." Tempus didn't get into the details of how Gehenna had basically destroyed her mother's body and soul before being devoured by demons. She doubted Rin wanted to hear about that.

"My mother died giving birth to Yukio and me too…"

"That's what happens when he has kids. Mothers can't survive childbirth."

Rin lowered his head. "How long did it take you to… master it?"

"Seven years. My childhood basically."

"Gehenna… I don't know how you survived."

"I have my brothers. They protected me when Father wasn't around."

Rin lifted his head. "Grab your brownie, let's go somewhere different!"

He took her to his room in the old boy's dorm. Yukio was out on a job. Rin sat on his bed and pointed to the chair. "Tempus, why didn't you tell me?"

"Figured you'd suspect the worst…"

"Which is?"

"Kill you to gain Father's… trust, I guess. But he doesn't expect too much of me."

"Then why didn't you just stay in Gehenna?"

"You make it sound like a bad thing."

"No… but, Tempus, you would have tried killing me last night if you didn't. Look–" he lifted his arm to show the small scar her burn had left "–Nothing has burnt me like that before… not even holy water."

"It just stuns people… like us. It stings a lot, but…"

"We recover quickly." Rin sighed. "I never want to think of myself as a demon, but when I saw you… with the flame…"

"You panicked?"

"No, I was surprised. I've never seen someone besides Satan that had so much control over it. Can you change its temperature at will?"

"Yeah. It's not a difficult task. I'm pretty sure you can too."

"There was one time… but, when Yukio was possessed, my control slipped and I was back at stage one… lighting candles."

Tempus smiled gently. "It's hard at first, but come on. Where are these candles?"

Rin pulled out two large bags from underneath his bed and placed threw candles on the ground. "To gain some sort of control over my flame, Shura told me to light the centre candle and not the outer candles. For a month or so, I couldn't do it properly. Can you show me how to do it without trying?"

Tempus tilted her head and blinked once, lighting the middle flame instantly. It took no effort on her part, but Rin was transfixed. "Whoa… how did you…"

"It's quite simple, Rin. Here, try one candle first." Tempus blew out the candle and placed it in from of him. "Now focus your flame on the candle. Simply the tip, nothing else. If you light the floor beside it, you're pretty close."

Tempus moved his body to face the candle evenly and lowered his head to the candle. "Now try."

_Poof._ It lit up perfectly. Tempus smiled. "You aren't that bad."

"So it was just my posture?"

"Probably. Have you completely… lost it when you're fighting?"

"Twice. Both times I was… I was fighting Amaimon."

"He's a challenging foe… Rin, did you hurt anyone?"

"No… but, I could have. I had no idea what was going on until I came back, a lot like last week… how is your wound, anyway?"

"It's fine." In fact, it wasn't. The wound hadn't healed at all. Tempus had thought to have Yukio look at it, but she decided she would keep it covered and clean unless it got infected. Certain movements hurt too much, which restricted Tempus' combat abilities.

"Have you ever lost control?"

Tempus nodded. "When I was little. My brothers described me as a tantrum-throwing baby demon. I burnt down half of my home."

"Wow… but you were a kid. I mean now."

"No. I've mastered the flame… I think."

"You don't know for sure?"

"If you're not Father, you can never be sure."

"Satan?"

"Yeah, Satan… I guess I should start calling him that more often." Tempus stood up and picked up her bag, wincing slightly. Rin didn't seem to notice and lifted a candle, squinting at it. "Have fun with your candles. Bye."

"You're leaving?"

"I'm meeting Renzo-san."

"_That's _new," Rin said, referring to Tempus' new way of calling Shima by his first name, Renzo. "Are you two an official couple now?"

Tempus made a small nod and smiled shyly. "Yeah…"

"Well, good luck to ya. I'll just be here with no life and my good sword here." He patted his sword and smiled brightly. Tempus left to her dorm room using their key and changed into a beige coat, dark jeans, her red vans and a grey singlet in case the temperature rose, which is what it seemed to be doing in recent days. One day it would be hot, the next day it would be cold. Still nice enough to have an ice-cream or a hot chocolate (Renzo had shown Tempus what chocolate was… he was shocked when Tempus admitted she'd never tried one)

Tempus used the key connecting to the Cram School and closed the door behind her. _These keys are amazing._ Her phone buzzed suddenly. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw Renzo's smiling face in the screen. It looked like he'd been trapped inside, with the way he was pressed against the glass on a window. It had been a good idea of his. Tempus had done the same thing in his phone. "Hey…"

"Sup! I can see you, you know."

"Where are you?"

"Look your left… no, too far to your left. I redid my hair. It's all pink again! See me now?"

Tempus saw Renzo and smiled. He wore a bright orange jacket and black jeans, making him stand out like an orange.

She walked towards him and he hugged her tightly. "You didn't waste your time getting here. Ready to go? Movie night together?"

Tempus nodded and held his hand as they walked. Renzo put a beanie on his head and handed Tempus a beanie. It was brown with a little bear face on it. "I had some free time today, so I got you this. I got a little raccoon so…"

"It's cute. I love it." She put the beanie on her head and they walked towards the bus stop holding hands. They spoke about the strangest things Tempus had never thought was a possible topic of conversation. She was hardly aware of the admiring stares they received from lonely singles wondering around them. When they reached the bus stop, the bus had just arrived. Knowing that people on the bus would want a nice quiet ride home, Renzo showed Tempus some of his music, which to her delight she loved. He said it was called 'dubstep', a techno music that had gotten popular in recent years. When they reached the shopping district where the cinema was located, Tempus noticed a young woman sitting outside of the cinema, holding an empty can of tuna and a sign: _Getting cold, getting hungry – spare a girl some cash?_

Tempus glanced at Renzo who glanced at the homeless woman and handed her some yen. "It'll make her feel better."

She placed the yen into the can and the woman beamed up at Tempus. "Thank you. Care for a little chat too?"

Renzo and Tempus sat down for a little while and spoke with the woman. They spoke about politics for a little while and about homelessness, which sounded as if it was hard to overcome living alone with no family to take you back. Tempus hugged the woman before leaving for the cinema with Renzo. People gave her very strange looks for doing so, though no one questioned it.

The movie playing was a strange horror movie, a Japanese translation of the movie: 'Evil Dead'.

It was the dumbest thing Tempus had ever seen, particularly when the girl cut her hand off and the part when blood rained down from the sky. Someone screamed out something about Mother Nature and her monthly cycle and the audience burst into uncontrollable laughter, including Tempus and Renzo.

It was around nine when the movie was finished. Now it was a case of getting something cheap to eat for dinner. Renzo took her to a small take-out shop where they bought some sukiyaki and some noodles. Tempus at the sukiyaki with a fetish. "This is delicious."

"Rin loves it too… he cooks it for us all the time."

"Really?" Tempus said, wiping her face. It was freezing outside. The homeless woman had disappeared. Everyone was beginning to board the bus to go home, though Tempus and Renzo weren't moving just yet. They were still eating.

"Yep," Renzo said, handing her a napkin. "Say… we are a thing now, right? We sure about this? I mean… I don't want it to be like I'm just using you…"

"You worry too much, Renzo-san."

"Huh?"

"First of: We're a couple unless you don't want to be. Secondly: what makes you think you're using me?"

A look of relief flooded through Renzo's face and he smiled. "I'm not sure… I thought you thought that… if you know I'm a flirtatious person."

Tempus began to laugh. A gut-wrenching laughter that made her bend over, holding her stomach. "I know about that! It doesn't matter to me that much, you know. Hell, you're the first boyfriend I've ever had…"

"Really? I mean… you're far too beautiful not to have been noticed."

"Where I lived, no one was as funny or cute as you."

Renzo blushed and he took the empty sukiyaki out of her hands, throwing them into a bin and grabbing her waist, holding her close. "I'm glad you think that. Personally, no girl I've seen is quite as special as you."

The last time someone had even been this close to Tempus was when she'd almost broken her arm. Her father had held her close, attempting to heal it. Unfortunately, a fire isn't designed for healing. Amaimon had healed her wounds, though it was the last time anyone had held her. No one had ever kissed her before either.

It had been sudden, so sudden Tempus gasped slightly with surprise. Renzo's lips were warm against hers, though comforting warmth that sent a shock of energy through her body. She felt her heart race faster than anything she'd ever felt before. Her stomach felt light and fluttery, as if her entire being could float up into the clouds and disappear. She wasn't sure how long it lasted, though it felt like hours. When he pulled away from her lips, Tempus felt woozy.

She staggered back and Renzo caught her waist, pulling her up. He looked just as flustered as Tempus felt. "That was something… huh?"

"We should… head back to the dorms."

"I'll see you… tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah… tomorrow…" Tempus turned away and pulled out her keys, opening the door to her room where Kamiki and Paku were waiting. When Tempus closed the door, Kamiki was instantly sitting up in her bed.

"How did it go?" Kamiki asked. When Tempus did nothing but change into her nightgown and collapsed into her bed, she snickered. "Pretty well then, I'm guessing?"

"Better than 'pretty well'… we kissed."

* * *

_*Gasp* Yes they did! A little smooch was required! If you're wondering why I didn't pair Tempus with someone else other than Shima, it's because of this: Shima is a flirty person and he's proud of it, but he doesn't get as much attention in the manga or the anime, which only made me wonder whether he was lonely or not. At first I'd planned to pair Tempus and Rin, but then I though: "Ew, no. That's like incest. No." So Tempus x Shima was born. And they're calling each other by their first names. Is that a big step...?_

_Anyway, I've also changed the cover photo for the FanFiction. As it progresses, the cover photo will change based on the situation they're in. _

_As always, positive and constructive criticism is gratefully appreciated and negative/useless comments are not. Thank you and have a lovely morning/day/afternoon/night!_

_~EmmyTheTurtle_


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